Henry David Thoreau quotes - page 7

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. (Henry David Thoreau)
All change is a miracle to contemplate but it is a miracle which is taking place every second. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their conscience also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part, and they are commonly treated as enemies by it. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
The civilized man is a more experienced and wiser savage. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
Sometimes we are inclined to class those who are once-and-a-half witted with the half-witted, because we appreciate only a third part of their wit. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
You can hardly convince a man of an error in a lifetime, but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow. If he is not convinced, his grandchildren may be. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
A true account of the actual is the rarest poetry, for common sense always takes a hasty and superficial view. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or, as it is named, spiritual life, as do most men, and another toward a primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence them both. I love the wild not less than the good. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
The commonest and cheapest sounds, as the barking of a dog, produce the same effect on fresh and healthy ears that the rarest music does. It depends on your appetite for sound. Just as a crust is sweeter to a healthy appetite than confectionery to a pampered or diseased one. (Henry David Thoreau)
It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
There are various, nay, incredible faiths; why should we be alarmed at any of them? What man believes, God believes. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
If you are describing any occurrence... make two or more distinct reports at different times... We discriminate at first only a few features, and we need to reconsider our experience from many points of view and in various moods in order to perceive the whole. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
Man wanted a home, a place for warmth, or comfort, first of physical warmth, then the warmth of the affections. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our strength. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
The unconsciousness of man is the consciousness of God. (Henry David Thoreau)
Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
If a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die, though the danger must be allowed to be less in proportion as he is dead-and-alive to begin with. A man sits as many risks as he runs. Walden. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual. View quote
Henry David Thoreau
It is remarkable that among all the preachers there are so few moral teachers. The prophets are employed in excusing the ways of men. View quote
Henry David Thoreau