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
vices morality life-is
Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice.
trust thinking care
I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do. We may waive just so much care of ourselves as we honestly bestow elsewhere.
nature significant piety
The words which express our faith and piety are not definite; yet they are significant and fragrant like frankincense to superior natures.
cities swamps fields
Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps.
summer kings winter
Many of the phenomena of Winter are suggestive of an inexpressible tenderness and fragile delicacy. We are accustomed to hear this king described as a rude and boisterous tyrant; but with the gentleness of a lover he adorns the tresses of Summer.
army government may
Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government.
kindness hate
We hate the kindness which we understand.
betrayal our-words should
The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement.
reading bears may
Whatever sentence will bear to be read twice, we may be sure was thought twice.
winter sunshine fire
What fire could ever equal the sunshine of a winter's day?
time reality doors
Must be out-of-doors enough to get experience of wholesome reality, as a ballast to thought and sentiment. Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life.
strength shields
For an impenetrable shield, stand inside yourself
practice feet simplicity
As for the complex ways of living, I love them not, however much I practice them. In as many places as possible, I will get my feet down to the earth.
order understanding world
Sometimes you have to leave the world in order to learn how to live in it. Thoreau shunned society, went to the woods, and came back with a new understanding of life.