As a man grows older, his ability to sit still and follow indoor occupations increases. He grows vespertinal in his habits as… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I think that Nature meant kindly when she made our brothers few. However, my voice is still for peace. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Be assured that every man's success is in proportion to his average ability. The meadow flowers spring and bloom where the watersannually… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Why should not we, who have renounced the king's authority, have our national preserves, where no villages need be destroyed, in which… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The lichen on the rocks is a rude and simple shield which beginning and imperfect Nature suspended there. Still hangs her wrinkledtrophy. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The husbandman is always a better Greek than the scholar is prepared to appreciate, and the old custom still survives, while antiquarians… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
But it is fit that the Past should be dark; though the darkness is not so much a quality of the past… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The fact which interests us most is the life of the naturalist. The purest science is still biographical. Nothing will dignify and… — 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
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 Copy Share Image
I think of no news to tell you. It is a serene summer day here, all above the snow. The hens steal… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make use and get advantage of her as… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The true man of science will know nature better by his finer organization; he will smell, taste, see, hear, feel, better than… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Before the land rose out of the ocean, and became dry land, chaos reigned; and between high and low water mark, where… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Seen from a lower point of view, the Constitution, with all its faults, is very good; the law and the courts are… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
Nature, even when she is scant and thin outwardly, satisfies us still by the assurance of a certain generosity at the roots. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature and has his senses still. — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The frontiers are not east or west, north or south; but wherever a man fronts a fact, though that fact be a… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The wilderness is near as well as dear to every man. Even the oldest villages are indebted to the border of wild… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
The true finish is the work of time, and the use to which a thing is put. The elements are still polishing… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
It is possible to invent a house still more convenient and luxurious than we have...but shall we always study to obtain more… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
I rejoice that horses and steers have to be broken before they can be made the slaves of men, and that men… — Henry David Thoreau Copy Share Image
He is not a true man of science who does not bring some sympathy to his studies, and expect to learn something… — 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
