This generation has come into the world fatally late for some enterprises. Go where we will on the surface of things, men have been there before us.... But the lives of men, though more extended laterally in their range, are still as shallow as ever.
Henry David ThoreauIf a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple-tree or oak. Shall he turn his spring into summer? If the condition of things which we were made for is not yet, what were any reality which we can substitute? We will not be shipwrecked on a vain reality.
Henry David ThoreauAll men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be.
Henry David ThoreauI know a good woman who thinks that her son lost his life because he took to drinking water only.
Henry David ThoreauWe should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return - sending back our embalmed hearts only as relics to our desolate kingdoms.
Henry David ThoreauI think that no experience which I have today comes up to, or is comparable with, the experiences of my boyhood.
Henry David ThoreauRise free from care before the dawn and seek adventure. Let the noon find you by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played.
Henry David ThoreauBooks of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of God's property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.
Henry David ThoreauIn Adam's fall We sinned all. In the new Adam's rise, We shall all reach the skies.
Henry David ThoreauIf it is necessary, omit one bridge over the river, go round a little there, and throw one arch at least over the darker gulf of ignorance which surrounds us.
Henry David ThoreauAs long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.
Henry David ThoreauWe should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty.
Henry David ThoreauI did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.
Henry David ThoreauWe do not learn much from learned books, but from true, sincere, human books, from frank and honest biographies.
Henry David ThoreauI am accustomed to think very long of going anywhere,--am slow to move. I hope to hear a response of the oracle first.
Henry David ThoreauAll endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one... characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers.
Henry David ThoreauHow important is a constant intercourse with nature and the contemplation of natural phenomena to the preservation of moral and intellectual health!
Henry David ThoreauIf ever I did a man any goodof course it was something exceptional and insignificant compared with the good or evil which I am constantly doing by being what I am.
Henry David ThoreauAbsolutely speaking, Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you is by no means a golden rule, but the best of current silver. An honest man would have but little occasion for it. It is golden not to have any rule at all in such a case.
Henry David ThoreauIf we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment. [Like they say, 'Every cloud has a silver lining'...so if you are patient, expect, anticipate, look and work for some good to come from the cloud, you will be rewarded eventually!]
Henry David ThoreauMost people dread finding out when they come to die that they have never really lived.
Henry David ThoreauDo not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends... Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
Henry David ThoreauInstead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them.
Henry David ThoreauThe success of great scholars and thinkers is commonly a courtier-like success, not kingly, not manly.
Henry David ThoreauSeeds, there are seeds enough which need only be stirred in with the soil where they lie, by an inspired voice or pen, to bear fruit of a divine flavor.
Henry David ThoreauAs for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.
Henry David ThoreauCan there be any greater reproach than an idle learning? Learn to split wood, at least.
Henry David ThoreauWhatever your sex or position, life is a battle in which you are to show your pluck, and woe be to the coward. Whether passed on a bed of sickness or a tented field, it is ever the same fair play and admits no foolish distinction. Despair and postponement are cowardice and defeat. Men were born to succeed, not to fail.
Henry David ThoreauI know of no redeeming qualities in myself but a sincere love for some things, and when I am reproved I fall back on to this ground.
Henry David ThoreauAs to conforming outwardly and living your own life inwardly, I do not think much of that.
Henry David ThoreauThe first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger hope than ever!... What at such a time are histories, chronologies, traditions, and all written revelations? The brooks sing carols and glees to the spring.
Henry David ThoreauThe higher the mountain on which you stand, the less change in the prospect from year to year, from age to age. Above a certain height there is no change.
Henry David ThoreauThe West of which I speak is but another name for the Wild, and what I have been preparing to say is, that in Wildness is the preservation of the World
Henry David Thoreau