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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.

“All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Wisdom

All Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

“The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Friendship

“Do what you love. Know your own bone gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Love

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Great

“What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?”

— Henry David Thoreau

Society

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Motivational

“Instead of noblemen, let us have noble villages of men.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

“Men are born to succeed, not to fail.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Friendship

“Live the life you've dreamed.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

“Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Intelligence

“Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Truth

“A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Friendship

“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Time

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Dreams

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

“As for doing good that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Good

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

“'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Health

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Time