Trench says a wild man is a willed man. Well, then, a man of will who does what he wills or wishes, a man of hope and of the future tense, for not only the obstinate is willed, but far more the constant and persevering. The obstinate man, properly speaking, is one who will not. The perseverance of the saints is positive willedness, not a mere passive willingness. The fates are wild, for they will; and the Almighty is wild above all, as fate is.
Henry David ThoreauIt is said that some Western steamers can run on a heavy dew, whence we can imagine what a canoe may do.
Henry David ThoreauIt is not enough to be a hardworking person. Equally important is the job you are working at.
Henry David ThoreauThe morning wind forever blows, the poem of creation is uninterrupted; but few are the ears to hear it.
Henry David ThoreauAn efficient and valuable man does what he can, whether the community pay him for it or not. The inefficient offer their inefficiency to the highest bidder, and are forever expecting to be put into office. One would suppose that they were rarely disappointed.
Henry David ThoreauWhere is the "unexplored land" but in our own untried enterprises? To an adventurous spirit any place--London, New York, Worcester, or his own yard--is "unexplored land," to seek which Frรฉmont and Kane travel so far. To a sluggish and defeated spirit even the Great Basin and the Polaris are trivial places.
Henry David Thoreau