Quotes by Henry David Thoreau
Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.
An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
What is once well done is done forever.
I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.
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.
The savage in man is never quite eradicated.
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.
Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them.
Only nature has a right to grieve perpetually, for she only is innocent. Soon the ice will melt, and the blackbirds sing along the river which he frequented, as pleasantly as ever. The same everlasting serenity will appear in this face of God, and we will not be sorrowful, if he is not.
Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.
If a man constantly aspires is he not elevated?
The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.
In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.
Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.
Things do not change; we change.
This world is but a canvas to our imagination.
Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.
It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart; it being much more sensitive.
I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.
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.
Only that day dawns to which we are awake.
