Quotes from Henry David Thoreau

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.

Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind.

Thank God, they cannot cut down the clouds!

What is the good of having a nice house without a decent planet to put it on?

When it's time to die, let us not discover that we have never lived.

If one advances confidently in the direction of one's dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

Whatever the human law may be, neither an individual nor a nation can commit the least act of injustice against the obscurest individual without having to pay the penalty for it.

To inherit property is not to be born -- it is to be still-born, rather.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he had imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.

The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.

The rich man is always sold to the institution which makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue.

We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke strops our vice.

Public opinion is a weak tyrant, compared with our private opinion - what a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates his fate

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.

Water is the only drink for a wise man.

If the fairest features of the landscape are to be named after men, let them be the noblest and worthiest men alone.

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but to so love wisdom as to live according to its dictates a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust

What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing about the origin and destiny of cats?

I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make use and get advantage of her as I can, as is usual in such cases.

We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice.

In wilderness is the preservation of the world.

The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement.

Men will lie on their backs, talking about the fall of man, and never make an effort to get up.