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
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!
communication men silence
There are some things which a man never speaks of, which are much finer kept silent about. To the highest communications we only lend a silent ear.
poetry littles poetic
We have heard much about the poetry of mathematics, but very little of it has yet been sung. The ancients had a juster notion of their poetic value than we.
climbing solitude society
As for the dispute about solitude and society, any comparison is impertinent. It is an idling down on the plane at the base of a mountain, instead of climbing steadily to its top.
dog men solitude
The man of genius, like a dog with a bone, or the slave who has swallowed a diamond, or a patient with the gravel, sits afar and retired, off the road, hangs out no sign of refreshment for man and beast, but says, by all possible hints and signs, I wish to be alone,--good-by,--fare-well. But the Landlord can afford to live without privacy.
lonely lakes laughing
I am no more lonely than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond itself. What company has that lonely lake,I pray?
lonely loneliness being-alone
We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers.
few greater man measure might require seeing shall tape understand understanding
We shall see but little way if we require to understand what we see. How few things can a man measure with the tape of his understanding! How many greater things might he be seeing in the meanwhile!
call close commonly good lie men pigs social together virtue warm
What men call social virtue, good fellowship, is commonly but the virtue of pigs in a litter, which lie close together to keep each other warm
achieving american-author goals motivational
What you get by achieving your goals is to as important as what you become by achieving your goals.
absolutely destiny origin philosophers-and-philosophy sort
What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing about the origin and destiny of cats?
agent break government injustice life requires stop
If an injustice requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the government machine.
life
Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so.