Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist.

He is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

Thoreau's books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry total over 20 volumes.

Quotes

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

Wisdom, Matters If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau

Music, Away, Him As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. Henry David Thoreau

Mind, Single, Deep I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. Henry David Thoreau

Quote

I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. Henry David Thoreau

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. Henry David Thoreau

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. Henry David Thoreau

If one advances confidently in the direction 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

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us. Henry David Thoreau

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Henry David Thoreau

The language of friendship is not words but meanings. Henry David Thoreau

Things do not change; we change. Henry David Thoreau

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. Henry David Thoreau

There is one consolation in being sick; and that is the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before. Henry David Thoreau

Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams. Henry David Thoreau

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

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

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. 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

If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment. Henry David Thoreau

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves. Henry David Thoreau

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. Henry David Thoreau

Sports, Men, Knowing Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it. Henry David Thoreau

This world is but a canvas to our imagination. Henry David Thoreau

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood. Henry David Thoreau