Henry David Thoreau Quotes

I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.

~ Henry David Thoreau

All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.

~ Henry David Thoreau

They can do without architecture who have no olives nor wines in the cellar.

~ Henry David Thoreau

It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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.

~ Henry David Thoreau

To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Be not simply good - be good for something.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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

~ Henry David Thoreau

It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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

~ Henry David Thoreau

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.

~ Henry David Thoreau

I am sorry to think that you do not get a man's most effective criticism until you provoke him. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness.

~ Henry David Thoreau

The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?

~ Henry David Thoreau

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed... Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

~ Henry David Thoreau

'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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

~ Henry David Thoreau

I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Faith never makes a confession.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling.

~ Henry David Thoreau

It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart; it being much more sensitive.

~ Henry David Thoreau

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.

~ Henry David Thoreau

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.

~ Henry David Thoreau

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.

~ Henry David Thoreau

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

~ Henry David Thoreau

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Men have become the tools of their tools.

~ Henry David Thoreau

What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.

~ Henry David Thoreau

To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.

~ Henry David Thoreau

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

~ Henry David Thoreau

Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without.

~ Henry David Thoreau