Quotes from Henry David Thoreau

I think we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.

Law never made men a whit more just.

In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness.

We are as much as we see. Faith is sight and knowledge. The hands only serve the eyes.

One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors; for to dwell upon them is to add to the offense.

A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.

How does it become a man to behave toward this American government today? I answer that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.

The law will never make a man free it is men who have got to make the law free.

How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve.

A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.

With all your science - can you tell how it is, and whence it is, that light comes into the soul?

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.

So our human life but dies down to its root, and still puts forth its green blade to eternity.

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.

It is so rare to meet with a man outdoors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands.

Faith never makes a confession.

Lo! Men have become the tools of their tools.

The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.

We should distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.

They [wood stumps] warmed me twice—once while I was splitting them, and again when they were on the fire.

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.