Inspiring Quotes by Henry David Thoreau - Page 2

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"I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business"

"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"

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation"

"It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear"

"It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes"

"I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion"

"How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it"

"Live the life you've dreamed"

"I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes"

"I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society"

"It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil"

"Wealth is the ability to fully experience life"

"Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth"

"Some are reputed sick and some are not. It often happens that the sicker man is the nurse to the sounder"

"Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors"

"The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star"

"The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency"

"The heart is forever inexperienced"

"The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer"

"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"

"The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument"

"Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand"

"Only that day dawns to which we are awake"

"Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify"

"The language of friendship is not words but meanings"

"Be not simply good - be good for something"

"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it"

"I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark"

"Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without"

"Men have become the tools of their tools"

"It is the greatest of all advantages to enjoy no advantage at all"

"It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man"

"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours"

"Great men, unknown to their generation, have their fame among the great who have preceded them, and all true worldly fame subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars"

"God reigns when we take a liberal view, when a liberal view is presented to us"

"Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!"

"Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something"

"Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside"

"I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora as the Greeks"

"Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years"

"Being is the great explainer"

"Books are to be distinguished by the grandeur of their topics even more than by the manner in which they are treated"

"Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling"

"Front yards are not made to walk in, but, at most, through, and you could go in the back way"

"Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams"

"Faith never makes a confession"

"Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe"

"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something"

"After the first blush of sin comes its indifference"

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting"

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