Character Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Much of our poetry has the very best manners, but no character.

— Henry David Thoreau

I never was so rapid in my virtue but my vice kept up with me.

— Henry David Thoreau

Don't be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so.

— Henry David Thoreau

How can we expect a harvest of thought who have not had a seedtime of character?

— Henry David Thoreau

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.

— Henry David Thoreau

All fables, indeed, have their morals; but the innocent enjoy the story.

— Henry David Thoreau

What exercise is to the body, employment is to the mind and morals.

— Henry David Thoreau

When a shadow flits across the landscape of the soul where is the substance?

— Henry David Thoreau

A Friend is one who incessantly pays us the compliment of expecting from us all the virtues, and who can appreciate them…

— Henry David Thoreau

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of so much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be…

— Henry David Thoreau

That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another s. We see so much only as we possess.

— Henry David Thoreau

Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice.

— Henry David Thoreau

“Our whole life is startlingly moral. There is never an instant's truce between virtue and vice. Goodness is the only investment that…

— Henry David Thoreau

The slight reproach to which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are most likely to incur.

— Henry David Thoreau

It behooves every man to see that his influence is on the side of justice, and let the courts make their own…

— Henry David Thoreau

“How can we expect a harvest of thought who have not had a seed-time of character?”

— Henry David Thoreau

But labor of the hands, even when pursued to the verge of drudgery, is perhaps never the worst form of idleness. It…

— Henry David Thoreau

The whole body of what is now called moral or ethical truth existed in the golden age as abstract science. Or, if…

— Henry David Thoreau

Every day our garments become more assimilated to ourselves, receiving the impress of the wearer's character, until we hesitate tolay them aside…

— Henry David Thoreau

We are sometimes made aware of a kindness long passed, and realize that there have been times when our friends' thoughts of…

— Henry David Thoreau

Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly…

— Henry David Thoreau

We falsely attribute to men a determined character - putting together all their yesterdays - and averaging them - we presume we…

— Henry David Thoreau

How long shall we sit in our porticoes practising idle and musty virtues, which any work would make impertinent? As if one…

— Henry David Thoreau

White Pond and Walden are great crystals on the surface of the earth, Lakes of Light… They are too pure to have…

— Henry David Thoreau

Have you not budged an inch, then? Such is the daily news. Its facts appear to float in the atmosphere… We should…

— Henry David Thoreau

Who knows what beautiful and winged life, whose egg has been buried for ages under many concretic layers of woodenness in the…

— Henry David Thoreau

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be…

— Henry David Thoreau

My friend is one who takes me for what I am. A stranger takes me for something else than what I am.…

— Henry David Thoreau

If I am to be a thoroughfare, I prefer that it be of the mountain brooks, the Parnassian streams, and not the…

— Henry David Thoreau

All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right…

— Henry David Thoreau

Every wild apple shrub excites our expectation thus, somewhat as every wild child. It is, perhaps, a prince in disguise. What a…

— Henry David Thoreau

I often accuse my finest acquaintances of an immense frivolity; for, while there are manners and compliments we do not meet, we…

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

The virtue which we appreciate, we to some extent appropriate.

— Henry David Thoreau

The perception of beauty is a moral test.

— Henry David Thoreau

Moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep.

— Henry David Thoreau

Its virtues, not its sins, are as scarlet

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

In the winter, warmth stands for all virtue.

— Henry David Thoreau

What is morality but immemorial custom? Conscience is the chief of conservatives.

— Henry David Thoreau