Henry David Thoreau Quotes

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us.

Methinks my own soul must be a bright invisible green.

If I seem to boast more than is becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself.

As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.

This curious world we inhabit is more wonderful than convenient; more beautiful than it is useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used.

I have been as sincere a worshipper of Aurora as the Greeks.

It is the greatest of all advantages to enjoy no advantage at all.

Instead of noblemen, let us have noble villages of men.

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

Even the best things are not equal to their fame.

If anything ail a man, so that he does not perform his functions, if he have a pain in his bowels even,- for that is the seat of sympathy,-he forthwith sets about reforming the world.

Your religion is where your love is.

I fear that I have not got much to say about Canada, not having seen much; what I got by going to Canada was a cold.

Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors.

Every people have gods to suit their circumstances.

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

Why should we be startled by death? Life is a constant putting off of the mortal coil - coat, cuticle, flesh and bones, all old clothes.

Sincerity is a great but rare virtue, and we pardon to it much complaining, and the betrayal of many weaknesses.

Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment

If misery loves company, misery has company enough.

It [is of] some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilization, if only to learn what are the gross necessities of life.

That grand old poem called Winter

I have learned that even the smallest house can be a home.

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

It is dry, hazy June weather. We are more of the earth, farther from heaven these days.

Those who work much do not work hard.

The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger hope than ever!

They were pleasant spring days, in which the winter of man's discontent was thawing as well as the earth, and the life that had lain torpid began to stretch itself.

The imagination, give it the least license, dives deeper and soars higher than Nature goes.

Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.

Truth is always paradoxical.

As far back as I can remember I have unconsciously referred to the experiences of a previous state of existence.

Books are to be distinguished by the grandeur of their topics even more than by the manner in which they are treated.

Write while the heat is in you.

I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could follow the bent of my genius, which is a very crooked one, every moment.

It is possible to invent a house still more convenient and luxurious than we have...but shall we always study to obtain more of these things, and not sometimes to be content with less?

We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke strops our vice.

The Slothful do not have the time to become virtuous or despicable.

Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.

We are always paid for our suspicion by finding what we suspect. [So why not suspect good rather than bad in events, people and life and thereby find it more?]

How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?

I am engaged to Concord and my own private pursuits by 10,000 ties, and it would be suicide to rend them.

Far travel, very far travel, or travail, comes near to the worth of staying at home.

It is said that a rogue does not look you in the face, neither does an honest man look at you as if he had his reputation to establish.

Most men cry better than they speak. You get more nurture out of them by pinching than addressing them.

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.

In winter we lead a more inward life. Our hearts are warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts.

Direct your eye inward, and you'll find / A thousand regions in your mind / Yet undiscovered. Travel them, and be / Expert in home-cosmography

. . . I was rich, if not in money, in sunny hours and summer days. . . .

What is peculiar in the life of a man consists not in his obedience, but his opposition, to his instincts. In one direction or another he strives to live a supernatural life.