Continued Insights from Henry David Thoreau

"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"

"The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run"

"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all"

"Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth"

"As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution"

"As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives"

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

"An unclean person is universally a slothful one"

"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"

"A man's interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town"

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone"

"A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars"

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor"

"I have thought there was some advantage even in death, by which we mingle with the herd of common men"

"I have seen how the foundations of the world are laid, and I have not the least doubt that it will stand a good while"

"Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul"

"Men have become the tools of their tools"

"Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve"

"Men are born to succeed, not to fail"

"It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart; it being much more sensitive"

"It is too late to be studying Hebrew; it is more important to understand even the slang of today"

"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"

"It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know"

"It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious"

"It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?"

"It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right"

"It is never too late to give up our prejudices"

"It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise"

"In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood"

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

"If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see"

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them"

"If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things"

"If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment"

"If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law"

"If misery loves company, misery has company enough"

"If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?"

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

"I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude"

"I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude"

"Be true to your work, your word, and your friend"

"Be not simply good - be good for something"

"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness"

"As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society"

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake"

"Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them"

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Inspiring Quotes by Henry David Thoreau - Page 2