Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American writer and philosopher; born David Henry Thoreau
Found 207 thoughts of Henry David Thoreau
How sweet it would be to treat men and things, for an hour, for just what they are!
Henry David Thoreau
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.
Henry David Thoreau
Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them.
Henry David Thoreau
Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.
Henry David Thoreau
It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.
Henry David Thoreau
To believe your own thought: To believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius.
Henry David Thoreau
The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.
Henry David Thoreau
If a man walks 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 days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.
Henry David Thoreau
There is one consolation in being sick; and that is the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before.
Henry David Thoreau
Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.
Henry David Thoreau
In the long run you only hit what you aim at. Therefore, though you should fail immediately, you had better aim at something high.
Henry David Thoreau
How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?
Henry David Thoreau
Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!
Henry David Thoreau
The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument.
Henry David Thoreau
Do not lose hold of your dreams or aspirations. For if you do, you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Henry David Thoreau
I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.
Henry David Thoreau
