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Henry David Thoreau

141 quotes

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher best known for his book *Walden*, a reflection on simple living in natural surroundings. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau championed individualism, civil disobedience, and a deep reverence for nature that continues to influence environmentalists and free thinkers to this day.

“If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

All Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

“Being is the great explainer.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Great

“A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

“I have thought there was some advantage even in death, by which we mingle with the herd of common men.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Death

“Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?”

— Henry David Thoreau

Great

“It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Truth

“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Age

“If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?”

— Henry David Thoreau

Work

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Religion

“Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Nature

“There is always a present and extant life, be it better or worse, which all combine to uphold.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

“In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

“Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Learning

“It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Best

“While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Nature

“True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Friendship

“'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Health

“What is human warfare but just this an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.”

— Henry David Thoreau

God

“May we so love as never to have occasion to repent of our love!”

— Henry David Thoreau

Love

“When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Fear