Tom Hyde, the tinker, standing on the gallows, was asked if he had anything to say. "Tell the tailors," said he, "to remember to make a knot in their thread before they take the first stitch." His companion's prayer is forgotten.
Henry David ThoreauWhat recommends commerce to me is its enterprise and bravery. It does not clasp its hands and pray to Jupiter.
Henry David ThoreauLove is no individual's experience; and though we are imperfect mediums, it does not partake of our imperfection; though we are finite, it is infinite and eternal.
Henry David ThoreauThe mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
Henry David ThoreauIn how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, "memoirs to serve for a history," which is but materials to serve for a mythology.
Henry David Thoreau