Quotes By Henry David Thoreau

It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.

Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.

Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

Things do not change; we change.

It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious.

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

As 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.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

How many things there are concerning which we might well deliberate whether we had better know them.

Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.

It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.

Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.

It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.

The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.

Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.

Do what nobody else can do for you. Omit to do anything else.

Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Every people have gods to suit their circumstances.

That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.

The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or Nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected.

Being is the great explainer.

There is no just and serene criticism as yet.

The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.