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Henry David Thoreau Quotes
1817–1862 United States
Henry David Thoreau (12 July 1817 – 6 May 1862) was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.
United States 19th-century poets Anarchists Critics Educators Also known as: Henry Thoreau, Thoreau, Thoreau, Henry David
Random Henry David Thoreau quote
284 quotes
Who could believe in prophecies of Daniel or of Miller that the world would end this summer, while one milkweed with faith matured its seeds?
The Dispersion of Seeds (1993)
Who looks in the sun will see no light else; but also he will see no shadow. Our life revolves unceasingly, but the centre is ever the same, and the wise will regard only the seasons of the soul.
Journals (1838)
And the cost of a thing it will be remembered as the amount of life it requires to be exchanged for it.
Journals (1838)
How can he remember well his ignorance—which his growth requires—who has so often to use his knowledge?
Walden (1854)
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
Mythology is the crop which the Old World bore before its soil was exhausted.
Walking (1862)
Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth.
Nature, even when she is scant and thin outwardly, satisfies us still by the assurance of a certain generosity at the roots.
A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849)
The experience of every past moment but belies the faith of each present.
If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.
Walden (1854)
If you would get exercise, go in search of the springs of life.
Walking (1862)
There is no remedy for love, but to love some more.
Every poet has trembled on the verge of science.
Journals (1838)
In Wildness is the preservation of the world.
Be not simply good; be good for something.
Men have become the tools of their tools.
Walden (1854)
Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.
I believe that the mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things, so that all our thoughts shall be tinged with triviality.
Life Without Principle (1863)
That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
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