I never read a novel, they have so little real life and thought in them.

I derive no pleasure from talking with a young woman simply because she has regular features.

The only government that I recognize--and it matters not how few are at the head of it, or how small its army--is that power thatestablishes justice in the land, never that which establishes injustice.

Thus was my first year's life in the woods completed; and the second year was similar to it. I finally left Walden September 6th,1847.

The world rests on principles.

A kitten is so flexible that she is almost double; the hind parts are equivalent to another kitten with which the fore part plays. She does not discover that her tail belongs to her till you tread upon it.

A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.