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
american-author built castles worry
Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
capacities judge nor
Man's capacities have never been measured; nor are we to judge of what he can do by any precedent, so little has been tried.
agent break injustice machine nature requires
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.
actual choose difficult direct direction exist fain ideal interior liable love magnetism path perfectly stupidity taken travel wrong yield
I belive that there is a subtile magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright. It is not indifferent to us which way we walk. There is a right way; but we are very liable from heedlessness and stupidity to take the wrong one. We would fain take that walk, never yet taken by us through this actual world, which is perfectly symbolical of the path which we love to travel in the interior and ideal world; and sometimes, no doubt, we find it difficult to choose our direction, because it does not yet exist distinctly in our idea.
late prejudice prejudices
It is never too late to give up your prejudices
companion found solitude
I have never found a companion so companionable as solitude.
man pleasures riches richest whose
That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
man pleasure pleasures richest whose
That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
alone found greater love solitude soon wholesome
I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone, I never found the companionable as solitude.
body either good soul work
Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either is the work of the other.
great mankind poets works
The works of the great poets have never yet been read by mankind, for only great poets can read them
advice earnest hear lived syllable valuable
I have lived some thirty-odd years on this planet, and I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors.
eat fried good necessary rat unusually
I was never unusually squeamish; I could sometimes eat a fried rat with a good relish, if it was necessary
men righteous surround swamps town woods
A town is saved, not more by the righteous men in it than by the woods and swamps that surround it