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Top 2798 Quotes & Sayings by Henry David Thoreau

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American author Henry David Thoreau.

Last updated on September 9, 2024.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience", an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

American - Author | July 12, 1817 - May 6, 1862

Source: Wikipedia

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. — © Henry David Thoreau

I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

There is no remedy for love but to love more.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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. — © Henry David Thoreau

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.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed... Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Things do not change; we change.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life. — © Henry David Thoreau

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Live the life you've dreamed.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. — © Henry David Thoreau

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Be not simply good - be good for something.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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