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
bloody commit definition enable innocent men pay shed state taxes-and-taxation thousand violence violent
If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible.
commitment direction life
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
integrity commitment vision
Methinks I am never quite committed, never wholly the creature of my moods, but always to some extent their critic. My only integral experience is in my vision. I see, perchance, with more integrity than I feel.
men commit universe
When a man truly commits, the universe will conspire to assure his success.
cultivate desirable law law-and-lawyers respect
It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for law, so much as a respect for right.
cultivate desirable respect
It is not so desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right
dreams life truest
Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.
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.
effort fall lie men talking
Men will lie on their backs, talking about the fall of man, and never make an effort to get up
breathe drink influences resign season taste
Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.
dozen exactly five half might miles particular visited
I often visited a particular plant four or five miles distant, half a dozen times within a fortnight, that I might know exactly when it opened.
I cannot read a single word of the Hindoos without being elevated.
life marrow
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life.
grateful thanksgiving
I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.