Food Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

A man had better starve at once than lose his innocence in the process of getting his bread.

— Henry David Thoreau

Remember that you need not eat unless you are hungry.

— Henry David Thoreau

Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing.

— Henry David Thoreau

It is not worth the while to live by rich cookery.

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

There is a difference between eating and drinking for strength and from mere gluttony.

— Henry David Thoreau

I know a good woman who thinks that her son lost his life because he took to drinking water only.

— Henry David Thoreau

There should always be some flowering and maturing of the fruits of nature in the cooking process.

— Henry David Thoreau

I have found it to be the most serious objection to coarse labors long continued, that they compelled me to eat and…

— Henry David Thoreau

What a healthy out-of-door appetite it takes to relish the apple of life, the apple of the world, then!

— Henry David Thoreau

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.

— Henry David Thoreau

I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not;…

— Henry David Thoreau

Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry.

— 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

The fruits eaten temperately need not make us ashamed of our appetites, nor interrupt the worthiest pursuits. But put an extra condiment…

— Henry David Thoreau

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

“Whatever my own practice may be, I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race, in…

— Henry David Thoreau

You must love the crust of the earth on which you dwell more than the sweet crust of any bread or cake.…

— Henry David Thoreau

Every New Englander might easily raise all his own breadstuffs in this land of rye and Indian corn, and not depend on…

— 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

“One farmer says to me, 'You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;' and so…

— Henry David Thoreau

As a preacher, I should be prompted to tell men, not so much how to get their wheat bread cheaper, as of…

— 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

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

How we shall earn our bread is a grave question; yet it is a sweet and inviting question. Let us not shirk…

— Henry David Thoreau

The dinner even is only the parable of a dinner, commonly.

— Henry David Thoreau

Some simple dishes recommend themselves to our imaginations as well as palates.

— Henry David Thoreau

You need not rest your reputation on the dinners you give.

— Henry David Thoreau

Let your condiments be in the condition of your senses.

— Henry David Thoreau

A man may esteem himself happy when that which is his food is also his medicine.

— Henry David Thoreau

Men have come to such a pass that they frequently starve, not for want of necessaries, but for want of luxuries.

— Henry David Thoreau

Yet, for my part, I was never unusually squeamish; I could sometimes eat a fried rat with a good relish, if it…

— Henry David Thoreau

“The luxuriously rich are not simply kept comfortably warm, but unnaturally hot; as I implied before, they are cooked, of course _à…

— Henry David Thoreau

They take their pride in making their dinner cost much; I take my pride in making my dinner cost little

— Henry David Thoreau

“Not that food which entereth into the moth defileth a man, but the appetite with which it is eaten. It is neither…

— Henry David Thoreau

There is not one kind of food for all men. You must and you will feed those faculties which you exercise. The…

— Henry David Thoreau

I have tasted but little bread in my life. It has been mere grub and provender for the most part. Of bread…

— Henry David Thoreau

“A puritan may go to his brown-bread crust with as gross an appetite as ever an alderman to his turtle. Not that…

— Henry David Thoreau

“I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has…

— Henry David Thoreau