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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.

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“There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

All Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

“Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Friendship

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Motivational

“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

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Dreams

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Wisdom

“As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Society

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Men

“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

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Work

“Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good be good for something.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Good

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Love

“The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Truth

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Best

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Dreams

“Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Imagination

“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

“Live the life you've dreamed.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Life

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Dreams