Quotes By Henry David Thoreau

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

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.

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.

In the meanest are all the materials of manhood, only they are not rightly disposed.

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.

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

In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.

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

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

Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends... Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

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

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.

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.

The heart is forever inexperienced.

Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve. Did you never see it?

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

We are always paid for our suspicion by finding what we suspect.

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

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.

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

The universe is wider than our views of it.

Be not simply good - be good for something.

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.

What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.