Henry David Thoreau Biography

Henry David Thoreau, Author
Occup.Author
FromUSA
BornJuly 12, 1817
Concord, Massachusetts, USA
DiedMay 6, 1862
Concord, Massachusetts, USA
CauseTuberculosis
Aged44 years
Henry David Thoreau was an American poet, theorist, and author who was born upon July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts. He hailed from a household of modest methods, and also his moms and dads were John Thoreau, a pencil maker, and also Cynthia Dunbar, a homemaker. Henry was the third of four youngsters.

Thoreau's early education and learning was at the Concord Academy, where he presented extraordinary academic expertise. Later on, he participated in Harvard College, where he examined approach, literary works, and languages. However, he did not graduate because of economic restrictions. After leaving Harvard, Thoreau returned residence, where he began studying nature, math, and also other philosophical and also spiritual subjects.

In 1845, at the age of 28, Thoreau began his best-known endeavor when he chose to reside in a small cabin that he developed himself at Walden Fish pond, which lies near his hometown in Concord. His remain lasted 2 years, and his experiences there were recorded in his influential job, "Walden; or, Life in the Woods". Guide specifies on his approach of nature as well as of uniqueness, and also the basic life, which he deemed needed to discover oneself.

Thoreau was additionally an advocate for social reform, and his political essays include "Civil Disobedience", which was inspired by his time spent behind bars after he rejected to pay a poll tax obligation in objection of the Mexican War as well as enslavement. The essay was later on pointed out as a significant message by civil rights protestors such as Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela.

Throughout his life, Thoreau was a close friend of fellow Transcendentalist authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Bronson Alcott. He also corresponded with luminaries of his time such as Walt Whitman as well as Harriet Beecher Stowe.

Thoreau's jobs continue to work as a significant influence on American writers, thinkers, as well as environmentalists. His observations on the human problem, consisting of the need for self-reliance, locating transcendence in nature, and civil disobedience, are still appropriate today. He passed away from tuberculosis on May 6, 1862, at the age of 44.

Our collection contains 191 quotes who is written / told by Henry, under the main topics: Art - Motivational - Nature - Wisdom - Life.

Related authors: Ralph Waldo Emerson (Philosopher), Nelson Mandela (Statesman), Martin Luther King Jr. (Minister), Philo (Philosopher), Walt Whitman (Poet), Harriet Beecher Stowe (Author), Carl Clinton Van Doren (Critic), Joseph Wood Krutch (Environmentalist), Nathaniel Hawthorne (Novelist), Lawrence Taylor (Athlete)

Henry David Thoreau Famous Works:
Source / external links:

191 Famous quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Small: If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away"
Small: It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?
"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?"
Small: Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!
"Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!"
Small: As if you could kill time without injuring eternity
"As if you could kill time without injuring eternity"
Small: The savage in man is never quite eradicated
"The savage in man is never quite eradicated"
Small: While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabi
"While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings"
Small: There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of n
"There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature"
Small: Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence
"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence"
Small: Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them
"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them"
Small: If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours"
Small: The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water work
"The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time"
Small: I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lon
"I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will"
Small: An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day
"An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day"
Small: Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined
"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined"
Small: To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over
"To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea"
Small: The lawyers truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency
"The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency"
Small: The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest
"The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest"
Small: Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors
"Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors"
Small: Some are reputed sick and some are not. It often happens that the sicker man is the nurse to the sounde
"Some are reputed sick and some are not. It often happens that the sicker man is the nurse to the sounder"
Small: It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear
"It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear"
Small: Live your life, do your work, then take your hat
"Live your life, do your work, then take your hat"
Small: Live the life youve dreamed
"Live the life you've dreamed"
Small: Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes
"Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes"
Small: The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles
"The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles"
Small: The heart is forever inexperienced
"The heart is forever inexperienced"
Small: Beware of all enterprises that require a new set of clothes
"Beware of all enterprises that require a new set of clothes"
Small: There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and sat
"There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life"
Small: Being is the great explainer
"Being is the great explainer"
Small: Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years
"Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years"
Small: The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my
"The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer"
Small: Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves
"Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves"
Small: Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each others eyes for an instant?
"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?"
Small: Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside
"Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside"
Small: Books are to be distinguished by the grandeur of their topics even more than by the manner in which the
"Books are to be distinguished by the grandeur of their topics even more than by the manner in which they are treated"
Small: Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations
"Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations"
Small: Justice is sweet and musical but injustice is harsh and discordant
"Justice is sweet and musical; but injustice is harsh and discordant"
Small: It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature
"It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature"
Small: I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes
"I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes"
Small: I had three chairs in my house one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society
"I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society"
Small: You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment
"You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment"
Small: Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth
"Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth"
Small: It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of the
"It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes"
Small: In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high
"In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high"
Small: I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could
"I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could follow the bent of my genius, which is a very crooked one, every moment"
Small: I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itsel
"I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business"
Small: Every man casts a shadow not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief.
"Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?"
Small: Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it arigh
"Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it"
Small: Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends... Sell your clothes and kee
"Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends... Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts"
Small: Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may co
"Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing"
Small: There never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable
"There never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that there should be"
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