Henry David Thoreau Quotes
Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.
A field of water betrays the spirit that is in the air. It is continually receiving new life and motion from above. It is intermediate in its nature between land and sky.
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.
The great art of life is how to turn the surplus life of the soul into life for the body.
Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about creating yourself. So live the life you imagined.
Not till we are lost, in other words not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.
I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.
Most events recorded in history are more remarkable than important, like eclipses of the sun and moon, by which all are attracted,but whose effects no one takes the trouble to calculate.
I frequently tramped eight or ten miles through the deepest snow to keep an appointment with a beechtree, or a yellow birch, or an old acquaintance among the pines.
Remember that the smallest seed of faith is of more worth than the largest fruit of happiness.
Today...the bluebirds, old and young, have revisited their box, as if they would fain repeat the summer without intervention of winter, if Nature would let them.
That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.
Live in each season as it passes: breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit.
The stars are the jewels of the night, and perchance surpass anything which day has to show.
We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bone.
The silence sings. It is musical. I remember a night when it was audible. I heard the unspeakable.
Kindness to children, love for children, goodness to children-- these are the only investments that never fail.
I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board.
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.
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.
There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.
If the work is high and far, You must not only aim aright, But draw the bow with all your might.
When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.
In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.
What lies before us and what lies behind us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within out into the world, miracles happen.
I have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side.