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Quotes from Pearls of Thought — Henry David Thoreau

1817–1862 United States

← All quotes by Henry David Thoreau

22 quotes

It is strange that men will talk of miracles, revelations, inspiration, and the like, as things past, while love remains.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

There is more of good nature than of good sense at the bottom of most marriages.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

The present hour is always wealthiest when it is poorer than the future ones, as that is the pleasantest site which affords the pleasantest prospect.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Even the best things are not equal to their fame.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

What is commonly called friendship even is only a little more honor among rogues.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Truth never turns to rebuke falsehood; her own straightforwardness is the severest correction.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Love is a severe critic. Hate can pardon more than love.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

We are not that we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for that we are capable of being.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Our sadness is not sad, but our cheap joys.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspect.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Homeliness is almost as great a merit in a book as in a house, if the reader would abide there. It is next to beauty, and a very high art.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

The language of excitement is at best but picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

It is the slowest pulsation which is the most vital. The hero will then know how to wait, as well as to make haste. All good abides with him who waiteth wisely.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Let a man take time enough for the most trivial deed, though it be but the paring of his nails. The buds swell imperceptibly, without hurry or confusion; as if the short spring days were an eternity.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

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.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Nothing more strikingly betrays the credulity of mankind than medicine. Quackery is a thing universal, and universally successful. In this case it becomes literally true that no imposition is too great for the credulity of men.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

The violence of love is as much to be dreaded as that of hate. When it is durable, it is serene and equable. Even its famous pains begin only with the ebb of love, for few are indeed lovers, though all would fain be.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

The church is a sort of hospital for men's souls, and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies. Those who are taken into it live like pensioners in their Retreat or Sailors' Snug Harbor, where you may see a row of religious cripples sitting outside in sunny weather.

Attributed Pearls of Thought (1881)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Henry David Thoreau (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.