Some are dinning in our ears that we Americans, and moderns generally, are intellectual dwarfs compared with the ancients, or eventhe Elizabethan men. But what is that to the purpose? A living dog is better than a dead lion. Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and not be the biggest pygmy that he can? Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made.
Henry David ThoreauDuty is one and invariable; it requires no impossibilities, nor can it ever be disregarded with impunity.
Henry David ThoreauI knew that the wall was the main thing in Quebec, and had cost a great deal of money.... In fact, these are the only remarkable walls we have in North America, though we have a good deal of Virginia fence, it is true.
Henry David ThoreauGood religious men, with the love of men in their hearts, and the means to pay their toll in their pockets.
Henry David Thoreau