Animal Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

“Even the elephant carries but a small trunk on his journeys.”

— Henry David Thoreau

When a dog runs at you, whistle for him.

— Henry David Thoreau

“Men are not so much the keepers of herds as herds are the keepers of men.”

— Henry David Thoreau

We slander the hyena; man is the fiercest and cruelest animal.

— Henry David Thoreau

The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.

— Henry David Thoreau

Man makes very much such a nest for his domestic animals, of withered grass and fodder, as the squirrels and many other…

— Henry David Thoreau

I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race in its gradual improvement, to leave off…

— Henry David Thoreau

It often happens that a man is more humanely related to a cat or dog than to any human being.

— Henry David Thoreau

“The repugnance to animal food is not the effect of experience, but it is instinct.”

— Henry David Thoreau

I have heard of a dog that barked at every stranger who approached his master's premises with clothes on, but was easily…

— Henry David Thoreau

Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.

— Henry David Thoreau

Even the elephant carries but a small trunk on his journeys. The perfection of traveling is to travel without baggage.

— Henry David Thoreau

I am too easily contented with a slight and almost animal happiness. My happiness is a good deal like that of the…

— Henry David Thoreau

Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth. It is astonishing how few…

— Henry David Thoreau

A man receives only what he is ready to receive, whether physically or intellectually or morally, as animals conceive at certain seasons…

— Henry David Thoreau

The moles nested in my cellar, nibbling every third potato, and making a snug bed even there of some hair left after…

— Henry David Thoreau

The repugnance to animal food is not the effect of experience, but is an instinct. It appeared more beautiful to live low…

— Henry David Thoreau

I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice ... While I am looking at him, I am thinking…

— Henry David Thoreau

I learned from my two years' experience that it would cost incredibly little trouble to obtain one's necessary food; that a man…

— Henry David Thoreau

If rightly made, a boat would be a sort of amphibious animal, a creature of two elements, related by one half its…

— Henry David Thoreau

I like sometimes to take rank hold on life and spend my day more as the animals do. Perhaps I have owed…

— Henry David Thoreau

We are conscious of an animal in us, which awakens in proportion as our higher nature slumbers. It is reptile and sensual,…

— Henry David Thoreau

English literature, from the days of the minstrels to the Lake Poets,--Chaucer and Spenser and Milton, and even Shakespeare, included,--breathes no quite…

— Henry David Thoreau

Most men would feel shame if caught preparing with their own hands precisely such a dinner, whether of animal or vegetable food,…

— Henry David Thoreau

The earth is not a mere fragment of dead history, stratum upon stratum like the leaves of a book, to be studied…

— Henry David Thoreau

The animal merely makes a bed, which he warms with his body in a sheltered place; but man, having discovered fire, boxes…

— Henry David Thoreau

While almost all men feel an attraction drawing them to society, few are attracted strongly to Nature. In their reaction to Naturemen…

— Henry David Thoreau

To preserve wild animals implies generally the creation of a forest for them to dwell in or resort to. So it is…

— 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

In some countries a hunting parson is no uncommon sight. Such a one might make a good shepherd's dog, but is far…

— Henry David Thoreau

“It often happens that a human is more humanely related to a cat or dog than to any human being.”

— Henry David Thoreau

“Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances.”

— Henry David Thoreau

“I like sometimes to take rank hold on life and spend my day more as the animals do.”

— Henry David Thoreau

It often happens that a man develops a deeper love and friendship with his pet cat or dog than he does with…

— Henry David Thoreau

Every man is entitled to come to Cattle-Show, even a transcendentalist; and for my part I am more interested in the men…

— Henry David Thoreau

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

Every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition, has been particularly inclined…

— Henry David Thoreau

As far as our noblest hardwood forests are concerned, the animals, especially squirrels and jays, are our greatest and almost only benefactors.…

— Henry David Thoreau

What is a country without rabbits and partridges? They are among the most simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and venerable families…

— Henry David Thoreau

The hounding of a dog pursuing a fox or other animal in the horizon may have first suggested the notes of the…

— Henry David Thoreau