Henry David Thoreau Philosopher

Being is the great explainer. great

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

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

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

Faith never makes a confession. faith

The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth. truth

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

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

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

It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil. best

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The perception of beauty is a moral test. beauty

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

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

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

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

Live the life you've dreamed. life

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The bluebird carries the sky on his back. nature

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That government is best which governs least. best & government

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

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

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

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

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity. time

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

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

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

Men are born to succeed, not to fail. men

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

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

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

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

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

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

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. friendship

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

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

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

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

Dreams are the touchstones of our character. dreams

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Be not simply good - be good for something. good

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

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

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

'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes. health

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Things do not change we change. change

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

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

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