Henry David Thoreau Quotes
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Man flows at once to God when the channel of purity is open.
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It is so rare to meet with a man out-doors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands.
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Those services which the community will most readily pay for it is most disagreeable to render. You are paid for being something less than a man.
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The rush to California, for instance, and the attitude, not merely of merchants, but of philosophers and prophets, so called, in relation to it, reflect the greatest disgrace on mankind. That so many are ready to live by luck, and so get the means of commanding the labor of others less lucky, without contributing any value to society!
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This world is but canvas to our imaginations.
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What are the earth and all its interests beside the deep surmise which pierces and scatters them?
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How does it become a man to behave toward this American government today? I answered that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.
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Gradually the village murmur subsided, and we seemed to be embarked on the placid current of our dreams, floating from past to future as silently as one awakes to fresh morning or evening thoughts.
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We are apt to imagine that this hubbub of Philosophy, Literature, and Religion, which is heard in pulpits, lyceums, and parlors, vibrates through the universe, and is as catholic a sound as the creaking of the earth's axle. But if a man sleeps soundly, he will forget it all between sunset and dawn.
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I am a parcel of vain strivings tiedBy a chance bond together,Dangling this way and that, their linksWere made so loose and wide,Methinks,For milder weather.
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I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject.
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I hear beyond the range of sound, I see beyond the range of sight,New earths and skies and seas around, And in my day the sun doth pale his light.
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Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him.
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Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.
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The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity, when contrasted with a finer intelligence.
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Men remain in their present low and primitive condition; but if they should feel the influence of the spring of springs arousing them, they would of necessity rise to a higher and more ethereal life.
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My books I'd fain cast off, I cannot read,'Twixt every page my thoughts go stray at largeDown in the meadow, where is richer feed,And will not mind to hit their proper targe.
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That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another's. We see so much only as we possess.
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The bluebird carries the sky on his back.
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It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?
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Who could believe in prophecies of Daniel or of Miller that the world would end this summer, while one milkweed with faith matured its seeds?
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The Indian...stands free and unconstrained in Nature, is her inhabitant and not her guest, and wears her easily and gracefully. But the civilized man has the habits of the house. His house is a prison.
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Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.
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Simplify, simplify.