Henry David Thoreau Quotes
Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.
I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.
The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.
Only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him.
Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other.
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.
Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.
There will never be a really free and enlightened state until the state comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.
It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, 'What are we busy about?'
Did you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and singly toward an object, and in no measure obtained it? If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated?
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.
I am convinced both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely.
Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.
With all your science can you tell me how it is, and whence it is, that light comes into the soul?
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.
The fate of the country does not depend on how you vote at the polls - the worst man is as strong as the best at that game; it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.
Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meager life than the poor.
What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook
The State never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.
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.
Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes and not a new wearer of the clothes.
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