Simplicity Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity is the peak of civilization.

— Henry David Thoreau

Simplify, simplify, simplify.

— Henry David Thoreau

The rule is to carry as little as possible.

— Henry David Thoreau

Let your capital be simplicity and contentment.

— Henry David Thoreau

Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage.

— Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!

— Henry David Thoreau

However mean your life is, meet it and live it.

— Henry David Thoreau

I love a life whose plot is simple.

— Henry David Thoreau

A simple and independent mind does not toil at the bidding of any prince.

— Henry David Thoreau

Nothing can rightly compel a simple and brave man to a vulgar sadness.

— Henry David Thoreau

Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.

— Henry David Thoreau

Furniture! Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse.

— Henry David Thoreau

He may travel who can subsist on the wild fruits and game of the most cultivated country.

— Henry David Thoreau

We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without.

— Henry David Thoreau

My themes will not be far-fetched. I will tell of homely every-day phenomena and adventures.

— Henry David Thoreau

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

— Henry David Thoreau

Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in…

— Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of…

— Henry David Thoreau

I am struck by the simplicity of light in the atmosphere in the autumn, as if the earth absorbed none, and out…

— 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

The savage lives simply through ignorance and idleness or laziness, but the philosopher lives simply through wisdom.

— Henry David Thoreau

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom…

— Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity is the law of Nature for man as well as for flowers. When the tapestry (corolla) of the nuptial bed (calyx)…

— Henry David Thoreau

And pray what more can a reasonable man desire, in peaceful times, in ordinary noons, than a sufficient number of ears of…

— Henry David Thoreau

In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to…

— 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

I sometimes despair of getting anything quite simple and honest done in this world by the help of men. They would have…

— Henry David Thoreau

It is desirable that a man be clad so simply that he can lay his hands on himself in the dark, and…

— Henry David Thoreau

The very austerity of the Brahmans is tempting to the devotional soul, as a more refined and nobler luxury. Wants so easily…

— Henry David Thoreau

There is a certain class of unbelievers who sometimes ask me such questions as, if I think that I can live on…

— Henry David Thoreau

I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must…

— Henry David Thoreau

To what end do I lead a simple life at all, pray? That I may teach others to simplify their lives? -…

— Henry David Thoreau

“I delight to come to my bearings,—not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuous place, but to walk even…

— Henry David Thoreau

The cheapest way to travel, and the way to travel the farthest in the shortest distance, is to go afoot, carrying a…

— Henry David Thoreau

But there are spirits of a yet more liberal culture, to whom no simplicity is barren. There are not only stately pines,…

— Henry David Thoreau

What we need to know in any case is very simple.

— Henry David Thoreau

A man may travel fast enough and earn his living on the road.

— Henry David Thoreau

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not…

— Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity is the law of nature for men as well as for flowers.

— Henry David Thoreau

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be…

— Henry David Thoreau