Rivers Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Life in us is like the water in a river.

— Henry David Thoreau

It is pleasant to have been to a place the way a river went.

— Henry David Thoreau

Such a man has some right to fish, and I love to see nature carried out in him.

— Henry David Thoreau

The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.

— Henry David Thoreau

I was born upon thy bank, river, My blood flows in thy stream, And thou meanderest forever, At the bottom of my…

— Henry David Thoreau

If it is necessary, omit one bridge over the river, go round a little there, and throw one arch at least over…

— Henry David Thoreau

He who hears the rippling of rivers in these degenerate days will not utterly despair.

— Henry David Thoreau

As I love nature, as I love singing birds, and gleaming stubble, and flowing rivers, and morning and evening, and summer and…

— Henry David Thoreau

Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing…

— Henry David Thoreau

The perch swallows the grub-worm, the pickerel swallows the perch, and the fisherman swallows the pickerel; and so all the chinks in…

— Henry David Thoreau

The Xanthus or Scamander is not a mere dry channel and bed of a mountain torrent, but fed by the ever-flowing springs…

— Henry David Thoreau

The murmurs of many a famous river on the other side of the globe reach even to us here, as to more…

— Henry David Thoreau

What is most striking in the Maine wilderness is the continuousness of the forest, with fewer open intervals or glades than you…

— Henry David Thoreau

We waded so gently and reverently, or we pulled together so smoothly, that the fishes of thought were not scared from the…

— Henry David Thoreau

Nature seemed to have adorned herself for our departure with a profusion of fringes and curls, mingled with the bright tints of…

— Henry David Thoreau

The whole tree itself is but one leaf, and rivers are still vaster leaves whose pulp is intervening earth, and towns and…

— Henry David Thoreau

It seems as if the more youthful and impressible streams can hardly resist the numerous invitations and temptations to leave theirnative beds…

— Henry David Thoreau

I sailed on the North River last night with my flute, and my music was a tinkling stream which meandered with the…

— Henry David Thoreau

All men are partially buried inthe grave of custom, and of some we see only the crown of the head above ground.…

— Henry David Thoreau

When the first light dawned on the earth, and the birds awoke, and the brave river was heard rippling confidently seaward, and…

— Henry David Thoreau

The life in us is like the water in the river. It may rise this year higher than man has ever known…

— 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

I confess I was surprised to find that so many men spent their whole day, ay, their whole lives almost, a-fishing. It…

— Henry David Thoreau

Rivers must have been the guides which conducted the footsteps of the first travelers. They are the constant lure, when they flow…

— Henry David Thoreau

Late in the afternoon we passed a man on the shore fishing with a long birch pole… The characteristics and pursuits of…

— Henry David Thoreau

Though the words Canada East on the map stretch over many rivers and lakes and unexplored wildernesses, the actual Canada, which might…

— Henry David Thoreau

Only nature has a right to grieve perpetually, for she only is innocent. Soon the ice will melt, and the blackbirds sing…

— Henry David Thoreau

While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we…

— Henry David Thoreau

Concord River is remarkable for the gentleness of its current, which is scarcely perceptible, and some have referred to its influence the…

— Henry David Thoreau

I thought, as I have my living to get, and have not eaten today, that I might go a- fishing. That's the…

— Henry David Thoreau

The lakes are something which you are unprepared for; they lie up so high, exposed to the light, and the forest is…

— Henry David Thoreau

Is not disease the rule of existence? There is not a lily pad floating on the river but has been riddled by…

— Henry David Thoreau

Do you know how the naturalist learns all the secrets of the forest, of plants, of birds, of beasts, of reptiles, of…

— Henry David Thoreau

Very few men can speak of Nature, for instance, with any truth. They overstep her modesty, somehow or other, and confer no…

— Henry David Thoreau

Generally speaking, the political news, whether domestic or foreign, might be written today for the next ten years with sufficientaccuracy. Most revolutions…

— Henry David Thoreau

Give me the old familiar walk, postoffice and all, with this ever new self, with this infinite expectation and faith, which does…

— Henry David Thoreau

As I walked in the woods to see the birds and squirrels, so I walked in the village to see the men…

— Henry David Thoreau

The village is the place to which the roads tend, a sort of expansion of the highway, as a lake of a…

— Henry David Thoreau

The Musketaquid, or Grass-ground River, though probably as old as the Nile or Euphrates, did not begin to have a place in…

— Henry David Thoreau

It cannot but affect our philosophy favorably to be reminded of these shoals of migratory fishes, of salmon, shad, alewives, marsh-bankers, and…

— Henry David Thoreau