I found that they knew but little of the history of their race, and could be entertained by stories about their ancestors as readily as any way .
Henry David ThoreauAll voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong.
Henry David ThoreauIf to chaffer and higgle are bad in trade, they are much worse in Love. It demands directness as of an arrow.
Henry David ThoreauWe admire Chaucer for his sturdy English wit.... But though it is full of good sense and humanity, it is not transcendent poetry.For picturesque description of persons it is, perhaps, without a parallel in English poetry; yet it is essentially humorous, as the loftiest genius never is.
Henry David ThoreauThe pleasures of the intellect are permanent, the pleasures of the heart are transitory.
Henry David ThoreauIf you stand right fronting and face to face to a fact, you will see the sun glimmer on both its surfaces, as if it were a cimeter, and feel its sweet edge dividing you through the heart and marrow, and so you will happily conclude your mortal career. Be it life or death, we crave only reality. If we are really dying, let us hear the rattle in our throats and feel cold in the extremities; if we are alive, let us go about our business.
Henry David Thoreau