Certain Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

He who cuts down woods beyond a certain limit exterminates birds.

— Henry David Thoreau

Only what is thought, said, or done at a certain rare coincidence is good.

— Henry David Thoreau

There never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that…

— Henry David Thoreau

There is a certain perfection in accident which we never consciously attain.

— Henry David Thoreau

At a certain season of our life we are accustomed to consider every spot as the possible site of a house.

— Henry David Thoreau

Nature, even when she is scant and thin outwardly, satisfies us still by the assurance of a certain generosity at the roots.

— Henry David Thoreau

All that is told of the sea has a fabulous sound to an inhabitant of the land and all its products have…

— Henry David Thoreau

There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature…

— 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

The higher the mountain on which you stand, the less change in the prospect from year to year, from age to age.…

— Henry David Thoreau

If I choose to devote myself to certain labors which yield more real profit, though but little money, they may be inclined…

— 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

Left to herself, nature is always more or less civilized, and delights in a certain refinement; but where the axe has encroached…

— Henry David Thoreau

Statesmen and legislators, standing so completely within the institution, never distinctly and nakedly behold it. They speak of moving society, but they…

— Henry David Thoreau

The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get "a good job," but to perform well a…

— Henry David Thoreau

Art can never match the luxury and superfluity of Nature. In the former all is seen; it cannot afford concealed wealth, and…

— Henry David Thoreau

In our most trivial walks, we are constantly, though unconsciously, steering like pilots by certain well-known beacons and headlands, and if we…

— Henry David Thoreau

There is a certain class of unbelievers who sometimes ask me such questions as, if I think that I can live on…

— Henry David Thoreau

You ask if there is no doctrine of sorrow in my philosophy. Of acute sorrow I suppose that I know comparatively little.…

— Henry David Thoreau

Ah! I need solitude. I have come forth to this hill at sunset to see the forms of the mountains in the…

— Henry David Thoreau

Why should Canada, wild and unsettled as it is, impress us as an older country than the States, unless because her institutions…

— 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

In society, in the best institutions of men, it is easy to detect a certain precocity. When we should still be growing…

— Henry David Thoreau

Whether we live by the seaside, or by the lakes and rivers, or on the prarie, it concerns us to attend to…

— Henry David Thoreau