Henry David Thoreau Quotes

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

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. Thoreau

That government is best which governs least. Thoreau

If one advances confidently in the direction of one’s dreams, and endeavours to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. Thoreau

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. Thoreau

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

Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes. 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 he hears, however measured or far. Thoreau

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

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm. Thoreau

What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate. Thoreau

It is only by forgetting yourself that you draw near to God. Thoreau

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

Why level downward to our dullest perception always, and praise that as common sense? The commonest sense is the sense of men asleep, which they express by snoring. Thoreau

All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong. Thoreau

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

Knowledge does not come to us in details, but in flashes of light from heaven. Thoreau

The really efficient labourer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure. Thoreau

Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but religiously follows the new. Thoreau

Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Thoreau

Glances of true beauty can be seen in the faces of those who live in true meekness. Henry David Thoreau

Rivers must have been the guides which conducted the footsteps of the first travellers. They are the constant lure, when they flow by our doors, to distant enterprise and adventure; and, by a natural impulse, the dwellers on their banks will at length accompany their currents to the lowlands of the globe, or explore at their invitation the interior of continents. Henry David Thoreau

He who hears the rippling of rivers in these degenerate days will not utterly despair. Henry David Thoreau

All sensuality is one, though it takes many forms; all purity is one. It is the same whether a man eat, or drink, or cohabit, or sleep sensually. They are but one appetite, and we only need to see a person do any one of these things to know how great a sensualist he is. The impure can neither stand nor sit with purity. Henry David Thoreau

Let a man take time enough for the most trivial deed, though it be but the paring of his nails. Henry David Thoreau

Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances. Henry David Thoreau

I rejoice that there are owls…. They represent the stark twilight and unsatisfied thoughts which all have. Henry David Thoreau

Winter is the time for study, you know, and the colder it is the more studious we are. Henry David Thoreau

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. Henry David Thoreau

There are theoretical reformers at all times, and all the world over, living on anticipation. Henry David Thoreau

But lo! men have become the tools of their tools. Henry David Thoreau

Waves of a serene life pass over us from time to time, like flakes of sunlight over the fields in cloudy weather.
Henry David Thoreau

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. Henry David Thoreau

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

It is never too late to give up our prejudices. Thoreau

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail. Thoreau

How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live. Thoreau

Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder. Thoreau

Do not despair of your life. You have force enough to overcome your obstacles. Thoreau

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

Truly, our greatest blessings are very cheap. Henry David Thoreau

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

All men are partially buried in the grave of custom. Henry David Thoreau

The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth. Henry David Thoreau

Commerce is really as interesting as nature. Henry David Thoreau

Commerce is unexpectedly confident and serene, alert, adventurous, and unwearied. It is very natural in its methods withal, far more so than many fantastic enterprises and sentimental experiments, and hence its singular success. Henry David Thoreau

Nothing more strikingly betrays the credulity of mankind than medicine. Quackery is a thing universal, and universally successful. In this case it becomes literally true that no imposition is too great for the credulity of men. Henry David Thoreau

Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveller that does the howling. Henry David Thoreau