Henry David Thoreau Quotes
35 quotes
Henry David Thoreau
American transcendentalist writer and philosopher
35 Quotes
Only that day dawns to which we are awake
— Walden, Conclusion
Not till we are lost, in other words not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves
— Walden, The Village
What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?
— Letter to Harrison Blake, May 20, 1860
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
— Walden, Conclusion
Things do not change; we change
— Walden, Conclusion
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it
— Walden, Economy
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation
— Walden, Economy
My greatest skill has been to want but little
— Walden, Chapter: 'Economy'
Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it
— Journal, February 3, 1860
Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake
— A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Chapter: 'Monday'
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
— Walden, Economy
Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations
— Walden, Reading
Goodness is the only investment that never fails
— Walden, Higher Laws
Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify
— Walden, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For
It is never too late to give up our prejudices
— Walden, Economy
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined
— Walden, Conclusion
There is no remedy for love but to love more
— A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Chapter: 'Wednesday'
The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend
— A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Wednesday
The universe is wider than our views of it
— Walden, Conclusion
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life
— Walden, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For
Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads
— Walden, The Pond in Winter
All change is a miracle to contemplate, but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant
— Walden, Spring
The faintest star twinkles with as much integrity as the sun
— Walden, Conclusion
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth
— Walden, Conclusion
What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals
— Walden, Conclusion
What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us
— Thoreau's journal, 11 March 1842
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves
— Civil Disobedience
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer
— Walden, Conclusion
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root
— Walden, Economy
Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence
— Walden, Conclusion
The question is not what you look at, but what you see
— Walden, Chapter: 'Spring'
Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around
— Walden, Conclusion
What is once well done is done forever
— Civil Disobedience
Men have become the tools of their tools
— Walden, Economy
Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something
— Letters to Harrison Blake, March 27, 1848