Henry David Thoreau quotes Born: 07/12/1817 Died: 05/06/1862 Country: usa

• If a man constantly aspires is he not elevated? (Henry David Thoreau)
• If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. (Henry David Thoreau) [foundations]
• There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. (Henry David Thoreau) [odor/bad]
• To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle. (Henry David Thoreau) [money]
• To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any other exercise which the customs of the day esteem. It requires a training such as the athletes underwent, the steady intention almost of the whole life to this object. (Henry David Thoreau) [books/spirit/exercise/willpower]
• If one advances confidently in the directions of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. (Henry David Thoreau) [dreams/life/willpower]
• It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? (Henry David Thoreau) [question]
• Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but religiously follows the new. (Henry David Thoreau) [generation]
• There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspect. (Henry David Thoreau) [more]
• As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution. (Henry David Thoreau) [strange]
• You must not blame me if I do talk to the clouds. (Henry David Thoreau)
• The heart is forever inexperienced. (Henry David Thoreau)
• Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all. (Henry David Thoreau) [books/chance]
• If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life. (Henry David Thoreau) [design/life]
• For many years I was a self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms and did my duty faithfully, though I never received payment for it. (Henry David Thoreau) [payment]
• If I seem to boast more than is becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself. (Henry David Thoreau) [more/excuse]
• I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls. (Henry David Thoreau) [company/morning]
• Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake. (Henry David Thoreau) [life/dreams]
• The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked what I thought, and attended to my answer. (Henry David Thoreau)
• Beware of all enterprises that require a new set of clothes. (Henry David Thoreau) [clothes]
• The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. (Henry David Thoreau) [men]
• I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. (Henry David Thoreau)
• Why level downward to our dullest perception always, and praise that as common sense? The commonest sense is the sense of men asleep, which they express by snoring. (Henry David Thoreau) [perception/men]
• Whether the flower looks better in the nosegay than in the meadow where it grew and we had to wet our feet to get it! Is the scholastic air any advantage? (Henry David Thoreau) [flower]
• We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches. (Henry David Thoreau) [men]
• If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonal experience and the effectual complaints of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations. (Henry David Thoreau) [experience/people/america]
• Is not disease the rule of existence? There is not a lily pad floating on the river but has been riddled by insects. Almost every shrub and tree has its gall, oftentimes esteemed its chief ornament and hardly to be distinguished from the fruit. If misery loves company, misery has company enough. Now, at midsummer, find me a perfect leaf or fruit. (Henry David Thoreau) [disease/insects/company/company]
• Let nothing come between you and the light. (Henry David Thoreau) [light]
• Things do not change, we do. (Henry David Thoreau) [change]
• The generative energy, which, when we are loose, dissipates and makes us unclean, when we are continent invigorates and inspires us. Chastity is the flowering of man; and what are called Genius, Heroism, Holiness, and the like, are but various fruits which succeed it. (Henry David Thoreau) [inspires/chastity/genius/heroism]
• Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written. (Henry David Thoreau) [books]

Calendar

Sun Mon Tue Wen Thu Fri Sat Apr 22 [66] 23 [137] 24 [57] 25 [65] 26 [51] 27 [71] 28 Apr 29 [10] 30 [58] 1 [2] 2 [50] 3 [73] 4 [75] 5 [35] May 6 [75] 7 [104] 8 [50] 9 10 [106] 11 [79] 12 [50] May 13 [50] 14 [8] 15 [75] 16 [114] 17 [50] 18 [112] 19 May 20 [79] 21 [76] 22 [59] 23 [43]

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