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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.

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

All Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

“I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Alone

“The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Best

“They can do without architecture who have no olives nor wines in the cellar.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Architecture

“All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Family

“I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Great

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Nature

“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Morning

“There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

“Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Good

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Music

“Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Dreams

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Age

“It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Wisdom

“Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Art

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

“It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Respect

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Learning

“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

“The man who goes alone can start today but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Alone