You boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity; may be you should spend the nine tenths so, and done with it.
Henry David ThoreauHow rarely I meet with a man who can be free, even in thought! We all live according to rule. Some men are bedridden; all world-ridden.
Henry David ThoreauMen talk of freedom! How many are free to think? Free from fear, from perturbation, from prejudice? Nine hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand are perfect slaves.
Henry David ThoreauMy profession is to be always on the alert to find God in nature, to know his lurking-places, to attend all the oratorios, the operas in nature.
Henry David ThoreauMany, no doubt, are well disposed, but sluggish by constitution and habit, and they cannot conceive of a man who is actuated by higher motives than they are. Accordingly they pronounce this man insane, for they know that they could never act as he does, as long as they are themselves.
Henry David Thoreau