A Quote by Henry David Thoreau

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Henry David Thoreau

Quote Topics

After Bravery Characteristic City Concealed Confirmed Console Country Despair Desperate Desperation Even Games Go Lead Lives Mankind Mass Men Muskrats Play Quiet Quiet Desperation Resignation Them Things Unconscious Wisdom Work Yourself

Quote Author

Henry David Thoreau
American - Author
July 12, 1817 - May 6, 1862

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

Henry David Thoreau

Football is based on desperation. All clubs are desperate in one form or another - desperate to succeed, desperate to survive, desperate to stay where they are, desperate that things get no worse, desperate to arrest the slide.

Simon Barnes

A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.

Henry David Thoreau

My interest in desperation lies only in that sometimes I find myself having become desperate. Very seldom do I start out that way. I can see of course that, in the abstract, thinking and all activity is rather desperate.

Willem de Kooning

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. I can't take quiet desperation!

Ray Milland

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Henry David Thoreau

The sensuality of desperate lives. Only poets talk like that. But poetry has never had an answer for anything. All it does it bear witness. To despair. And desperate lives.

Jean-Claude Izzo

In New York, everyone's desperate for success, desperate for money and desperate to be accepted, but in London they're more laid back about things like that.

David Bailey

I don't think human beings learn anything without desperation. Desperation is a necessary ingredient to learning anything or creating anything. Period. If you ain't desperate at some point, you ain't interesting.

Jim Carrey

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

Henry David Thoreau

Desperate men do desperate things when you take hope away. And that's where the Palestinians are today.

Chuck Hagel

There arc no such things as desperate situations. Only desperate men.

Adolf Hitler

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Henry David Thoreau

I could have lied. I could have fought. But desperate times call for desperate measures, so I took a chance and called upon a Gallagher Girl's weapon of last resort. I flirted

Ally Carter

My 20s were all about feeling desperate. Desperate to find a new boyfriend. Desperate to get the perfect job. Desperate to get rid of this terrible relationship with this bad new boyfriend.