Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreauwas an American essayist, 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...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth12 July 1817
CountryUnited States of America
success sports running
In the long run, you hit only what you aim at.
god hero men
Others -- as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders -- serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few -- as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men -- serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part ...
god nature freedom
I make my own time. I make my own terms. I cannot see how God or Nature can ever get the start of me.
time criticism may
As they say in geology, time never fails, there is always enough of it, so I may say, criticism never fails.
time car railroads
The startings and arrivals of the cars are now the epochs in the village day.
doubt ifs
Do not entertain doubts if they are not agreeable to you.
confidence respect doubt
If one hesitates in his path, let him not proceed. Let him respect his doubts, for doubts, too, may have some divinity in them.
swamps wilderness primitive
The most primitive places left with us are the swamps, where the spruce still grows shaggy with usnea.
cat home woods
The most domestic cat, which has lain on a rug all her days, appears quite at home in the woods, and, by her sly and stealthy behavior, proves herself more native there than the regular inhabitants.
ocean giving desert
My spirits infallibly rise in proportion to the outward dreariness. Give me the ocean, the desert, or the wilderness!
change patience hero
We are independent of the change we detect. The longer the lever, the less perceptible its motion. It is the slowest pulsation which is the most vital. The hero then will know how to wait, as well as to make haste. All good abides with him who waiteth wisely; we shall sooner overtake the dawn by remaining here than by hurrying over the hills of the west.
change doubt tradition
So easy is it, though many housekeepers doubt it, to establish new and better customs in the place of the old.
change men animal
Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances.
change events causes
For the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to make our occasions. They are, in fact, the cause of our distraction.