The condition-of-England question is a practical one. The condition of England demands a hero, not a poet. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I do not remember anything which Confucius has said directly respecting man's "origin, purpose, and destiny." He was more practical than that.… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
It is the characteristic of great poems that they will yield of their sense in due proportion to the hasty and the… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Even the utmost good-will and harmony and practical kindness are not sufficient for Friendship, for Friends do not live in harmony merely,… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Webster never goes behind government, and so cannot speak with authority about it. His words are wisdom to those legislators who contemplate… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Men sometimes speak as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies; but… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
What we want is not mainly to colonize Nebraska with free men, but to colonize Massachusetts with free men-to be free ourselves.… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Methinks some creeds in vestries and churches do forget the hunter wrapped in furs by the Great Slave Lake, and that the… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Many expressions in the New Testament come naturally to the lips of all Protestants, and it furnishes the most pregnant and practical… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
To say that a man is your Friend, means commonly no more than this, that he is not your enemy. Most contemplate… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Philosophy, certainly, is some account of truths the fragments and very insignificant parts of which man will practice in this workshop; truths… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
For eighteen hundred years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
As for Clothing, to come at once to the practical part of the question, perhaps we are led oftener by the love… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
If ever I did a man any goodof course it was something exceptional and insignificant compared with the good or evil which I am… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“Men say they know many things; But lo! they have taken wings, — The arts and sciences, And a thousand appliances; The wind that… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or back gammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
“This spending of the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
A traveler who looks at things with an impartial eye may see what the oldest inhabitant has not observed. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it, that the… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The still youthful energies of the globe have only to be directed in their proper channel. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Concord's little arch does not span all our fate, nor is what transpires under it law for the universe. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
