Morality Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Nature is goodness crystallized.

— Henry David Thoreau

I say, break the law.

— Henry David Thoreau

Mathematics should be mixed not only with physics but with ethics.

— Henry David Thoreau

No man loses ever on a lower level by magnanimity on a higher.

— Henry David Thoreau

To the innocent there are neither cherubim nor angels.

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Man's moral nature is a riddle which only eternity can solve.

— Henry David Thoreau

Moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep.

— Henry David Thoreau

Whatever is, and is not ashamed to be, is good.

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— 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

Since all things are good, men fail at last to distinguish which is the bane and which the antidote.

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

He who eats the fruit should at least plant the seed; ay, if possible, a better seed than that whose fruit he…

— Henry David Thoreau

Where there is not discernment, the behavior even of the purest soul may in effect amount to coarseness.

— Henry David Thoreau

You cannot receive a shock unless you have an electric affinity for that which shocks you.

— Henry David Thoreau

It is not so important that many should be good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that…

— 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

How wholesome winter is, seen far or near; how good, above all mere sentimental, warm-blooded, short-lived, soft-hearted, moral goodness, commonly so called.…

— Henry David Thoreau

We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice. Where is the skillful swordsman…

— Henry David Thoreau

Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it oftener happens that they are not above supporting themselves…

— Henry David Thoreau

A worm is as good a traveler as a grasshopper or a cricket, and a much wiser settler. With all their activity…

— Henry David Thoreau

If there were one who lived wholly without the use of money, the State itself would hesitate to demand it of him.…

— Henry David Thoreau

It is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always. The conscience really does not, and ought not to…

— Henry David Thoreau

As we grow older, we live more coarsely, we relax a little in our disciplines, and, to some extent, cease to obey…

— Henry David Thoreau

The Jesuits were quite balked by those Indians who, being burned at the stake, suggested new modes of tortures to their tormentors.…

— Henry David Thoreau

The life of a good man will hardly improve us more than the life of a freebooter, for the inevitable laws appear…

— Henry David Thoreau

Christ was a sublime actor on the stage of the world. He knew what he was thinking of when he said, "Heaven…

— Henry David Thoreau

I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, and despairs of his country, when his country…

— 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

Will mankind never learn that policy is not morality,--that it never secures any moral right, but considers merely what is expedient? chooses…

— Henry David Thoreau

On the whole, my respect for my fellow-men, except as one may outweigh a million, is not being increased these days… Such…

— Henry David Thoreau

Others -- as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders -- serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely…

— Henry David Thoreau

Good deeds are no less good because their object is unworthy.

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

To live a better life,--this surely can be done.

— Henry David Thoreau

To the virtuous man, the universe is the only sanctum sanctorum, and the penetralia of the temple are the broad noon of…

— Henry David Thoreau