“A man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“To be alone was something unpleasant. But I was at the same time conscious of a slight insanity in my mood, and… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
It would be no reproach to a philosopher, that he knew the future better than the past, or even than the present.… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The true finish is the work of time, and the use to which a thing is put. The elements are still polishing… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Life is grand, and so are its environments of Past and Future. Would the face of nature be so serene and beautiful… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Unless we do more than simply learn the trade of our time, we are but apprentices, and not yet masters of the… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“There were times when I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Ninety-nine one-hundredths of our lives we are mere hedgers and ditchers, but from time to time we meet with reminders of our… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again And what… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“As yesterday and the historical ages are past, as the work of today is present, so some flitting perspectives and demi-experiences of… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Men seem anxious to accomplish an orderly retreat through the centuries, earnestly rebuilding the works behind them, as they are battered down… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
If you are describing any occurrence... make two or more distinct reports at different times... We discriminate at first only a few… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice. Where is the skillful swordsman… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Two thousand summers have imparted to the monuments of Grecian literature, as to her marbles, only a maturer golden and autumnal tint,… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us;… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root, and it may be… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“A wise man has doubts even in his best moments. Real truth is always accompanied by hesitations. If I could not hesitate,… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I have no designs on society, or nature, or God. I am simply what I am, or I begin to be that.… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
As they say in geology, time never fails, there is always enough of it, so I may say, criticism never fails. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
We seem but to linger in manhood to tell the dreams of our childhood, and they vanish out of memory ere we… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
How earthy old people become --moldy as the grave! Their wisdom smacks of the earth. There is no foretaste of immortality in… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could follow… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
In my cheapest moments I am apt to think that it is n't my business to be "seeking the spirit," but as… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Waves of a serene life pass over us from time to time, like flakes of sunlight over the fields in cloudy weather. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
How little do the most wonderful inventions of modern times detain us. They insult nature. Every machine, or particular application, seems a… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“Nothing so fair, so pure, and at the same time so large, as a lake, perchance, lies on the surface of the… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“The heroic books, even if printed in the character of our mother tongue, will always be in a language dead to degenerate… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resigns his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“I do not speak to those who are well employed, in whatever circumstances, and they know whether they are well employed or… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
All questions rely on the present for their solution. Time measures nothing but itself. The word that is written may be postponed,but… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Since you are my readers, and I have not been much of a traveler, I will not talk about people a thousand… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
In any weather, at any hour of the day or night, I have been anxious to improve the nick of time, and… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I expect a time when, or rather an integrity by which, a man will get his coat as honestly and as perfectly… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
If ever I did a man any goodof course it was something exceptional and insignificant compared with the good or evil which I am… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
“Men say they know many things; But lo! they have taken wings, — The arts and sciences, And a thousand appliances; The wind that… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
“All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or back gammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
“This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
A traveler who looks at things with an impartial eye may see what the oldest inhabitant has not observed. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
The still youthful energies of the globe have only to be directed in their proper channel. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
Concord's little arch does not span all our fate, nor is what transpires under it law for the universe. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
The lumberers rarely trouble themselves to put out their fires, such is the dampness of the primitive forest; and this is one cause, no… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
“When he has obtained those things which are necessary to life, there is another alternative than to obtain the superfluities; and that is, to… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
Wealth is measured by the level of experience in all aspects of life — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share
