Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Henry David Thoreau Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: United States
  • Born: Jul 12, 1817
  • Died: May 6, 1862

Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Resistance to Civil Government, an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy, where he anticipated the methods and findings of ecology and environmental history, two sources of modern-day environmentalism. His literary style interweaves close natural observation, personal experience, pointed rhetoric, symbolic meanings, and historical lore, while displaying a poetic sensibility, philosophical austerity, and "Yankee" love of practical detail. He was also deeply interested in the idea of survival in the face of hostile elements, historical change, and natural decay; at the same time he advocated abandoning waste and illusion in order to discover life's true essential needs.

To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle. money

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake. dreams, imagination & life

There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature. nature

'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes. health

Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without. love & wisdom

Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand. nature

The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. life

To be admitted to Nature's hearth costs nothing. None is excluded, but excludes himself. You have only to push aside the curtain. nature

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself. intelligence

Do what you love. Know your own bone gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still. love

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see. men

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. happiness & life

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness. faith & happiness

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. work

Men are born to succeed, not to fail. men

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

It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know. learning

All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man. wisdom

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. friendship

Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe. faith

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant? great

A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend. friendship & life

What is called genius is the abundance of life and health. health, life & motivational

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

Faith never makes a confession. faith

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. life

There is danger that we lose sight of what our friend is absolutely, while considering what she is to us alone. alone

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. dreams & life

It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear. truth

Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve. learning, men & respect

The man who goes alone can start today but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. alone

Be not simply good - be good for something. good

Live your life, do your work, then take your hat. life & work

What is human warfare but just this an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party. God, nature & war

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success. success

There is no remedy for love but to love more. love

How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it. government

Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing. truth

Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling. imagination

I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business. business, life & poetry

God reigns when we take a liberal view, when a liberal view is presented to us. God

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. men & sports

It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes. men

Live the life you've dreamed. life

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

If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life. design, good & life

The perception of beauty is a moral test. beauty

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. time

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

It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man. history

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. alone & love

Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams. dreams & friendship

There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living. life

Those whom we can love, we can hate to others we are indifferent. love

Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something. good

The law will never make a man free it is men who have got to make the law free. men

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. nature

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

It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart it being much more sensitive. imagination

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul. money

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend. friendship & work

Only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him. business

Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution. nature

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something. good

To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea. women

We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches. great & men

They can do without architecture who have no olives nor wines in the cellar. architecture

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life. experience & life

As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society. society

Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are. best

Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all. best

There is more of good nature than of good sense at the bottom of most marriages. good & nature

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. fear & music

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good be good for something. good & life

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. morning

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. love, money & truth

I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls. great & morning

Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify. life

All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning. family, men & morning

What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on? society

The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency. truth

Being is the great explainer. great

No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well. alone & truth

Things do not change we change. change

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

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. life

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. motivational

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone. alone

Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape! beauty

The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth. truth

It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. respect

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. environmental, God & men

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it. love, money & work

I have seen how the foundations of the world are laid, and I have not the least doubt that it will stand a good while. good

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see. wisdom

May we so love as never to have occasion to repent of our love! love

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. government & nature

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

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

Men have become the tools of their tools. men & technology

True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance. friendship & knowledge

There is always a present and extant life, be it better or worse, which all combine to uphold. life

Dreams are the touchstones of our character. dreams

That government is best which governs least. best & government

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

Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another? life & nature

I had three chairs in my house one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. friendship & society

The bluebird carries the sky on his back. nature

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity. time

This world is but a canvas to our imagination. art & imagination

I have thought there was some advantage even in death, by which we mingle with the herd of common men. death & men

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence. love

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature. nature & sympathy

It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil. best

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend. friendship

In my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morning occupations and my obligations to society. morning & society

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. life