Henry David Thoreau Quotes
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It takes two to speak the truth, - one to speak, and another to hear.
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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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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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Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.
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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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Far from New England's blustering shore,New England's worm her hulk shall bore,And sink her in the Indian seas,Twine, wine, and hides, and China teas.
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A slight sound at evening lifts me up by the ears, and makes life seem inexpressibly serene and grand. It may be Uranus, or it may be in the shutter.
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And now, at half-past ten o'clock, I hear the cockerels crow in Hubbard's barns, and morning is already anticipated. It is the feathered, wakeful thought in us that anticipates the following day.
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If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. As if a town had no interest in its forests but to cut them down!
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I will not talk about people a thousand miles off, but come as near home as I can. As the time is short, I will leave out all the flattery, and retain all the criticism. Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives.
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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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Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.
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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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Nothing is so much to be feared as fear. Atheism may comparatively be popular with God himself.
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In wildness is the preservation of the world.
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And the cost of a thing it will be remembered as the amount of life it requires to be exchanged for it.
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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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I speak for the slave when I say that I prefer the philanthropy of Captain Brown to that philanthropy which neither shoots me nor liberates me.
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The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity, when contrasted with a finer intelligence.
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Poetry is the mysticism of mankind.
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As we passed under the last bridge over the canal, just before reaching the Merrimack, the people coming out of church paused to look at us from above, and apparently, so strong is custom, indulged in some heathenish comparisons; but we were the truest observers of this sunny day
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The youth gets together his materials to build a bridge to the moon, or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, at length, the middle-aged man concludes to build a woodshed with them.
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It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?
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Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.