It is pitiful when a man bears a name for convenience merely, who has earned neither name nor fame.
Henry David ThoreauThe gentle rain which waters my beans and keeps me in the house today is not drear and melancholy, but good for me too. Though it prevents my hoeing them, it is of far more worth than my hoeing. If it should continue so long as to cause the seeds to rot in the ground and destroy the potatoes in the low lands, it would still be good for the grass on the uplands, and, being good for the grass, would be good for me, too.
Henry David ThoreauWe soon get through with nature. She excites an expectation which she cannot satisfy.
Henry David ThoreauGovernment is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government.
Henry David Thoreau