Action Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

It's not enough to be busy.

— Henry David Thoreau

Dissent without action is consent.

— Henry David Thoreau

Let things alone; let them weigh what they will; let them soar or fall.

— Henry David Thoreau

We must heap up a great pile of doing, for a small diameter of being.

— Henry David Thoreau

I do not wish to be any more busy with my hands than is necessary.

— Henry David Thoreau

Take Time by the forelock. It is also the safest part to take a serpent by.

— Henry David Thoreau

The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies.

— Henry David Thoreau

Sweep away the clutter of things that complicate our lives.

— Henry David Thoreau

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see.

— Henry David Thoreau

To act collectively is according to the spirit of our institutions.

— Henry David Thoreau

But they who are unconcerned about the consequences of their actions are not therefore unconcerned about their actions.

— Henry David Thoreau

It is not easy to make our lives respectable by any course of activity. We must repeatedly withdraw into our shells of…

— Henry David Thoreau

Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf Than that I may not disappoint myself, That in my action I may…

— Henry David Thoreau

The theories and speculations of men concern us more than their puny accomplishment. It is with a certain coldness and languor that…

— Henry David Thoreau

We could not help contrasting the equanimity of Nature with the bustle and impatience of man. His words and actions presume alwaysa…

— Henry David Thoreau

By a conscious effort of the mind we can stand aloof from actions and their consequences; and all things, good and bad,…

— Henry David Thoreau

“A man must find his occasions in himself, it is true. The natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his…

— Henry David Thoreau

A man of rare common sense and directness of speech, as of action; a transcendentalist above all, a man of ideas and…

— Henry David Thoreau

Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary, and does not consist…

— Henry David Thoreau

Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should…

— Henry David Thoreau

The Oriental philosophy approaches easily loftier themes than the modern aspires to; and no wonder if it sometimes prattle about them. It…

— Henry David Thoreau

However, our fates at least are social. Our courses do not diverge; but as the web of destiny is woven it is…

— Henry David Thoreau

“There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war, who yet in effect do nothing to put…

— Henry David Thoreau

Literary gentlemen, editors, and critics think that they know how to write, because they have studied grammar and rhetoric; but they are…

— Henry David Thoreau

I have just been through the process of killing a cistudo for the sake of science; but I cannot excuse myself for…

— Henry David Thoreau

The word which is best said came nearest to not being spoken at all, for it is cousin to a deed which…

— Henry David Thoreau

A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of…

— Henry David Thoreau

In summer we live out of doors, and have only impulses and feelings, which are all for action, and must wait commonly…

— Henry David Thoreau

How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, and enjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his…

— Henry David Thoreau

So behave that the odor of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere, that when we behold or scent…

— Henry David Thoreau

The deeds of love are less questionable than any action of an individual can be, for, it being founded on the rarest…

— Henry David Thoreau

There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.

— Henry David Thoreau

From exertion come wisdom and purity; from sloth ignorance and sensuality.

— Henry David Thoreau

In the unbending of the arm to do the deed there is experience worth all the maxims in the world.

— Henry David Thoreau

Behave so the aroma of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere.

— Henry David Thoreau