A true politeness does not result from any hasty and artificial polishing, it is true, but grows naturally in characters of the right grain and quality, through a long fronting of men and events, and rubbing on good and bad fortune. Henry David Thoreau More Quotes by Henry David Thoreau More Quotes From Henry David Thoreau Truth strikes us from behind and in the dark, as well as from before and in broad daylight. Henry David Thoreau broads daylight dark In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial. Henry David Thoreau gita morning philosophy Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downwards through the mud and slush of opinion and tradition, and pride and prejudice, appearance and delusion, through the alluvium which covers the globe, through poetry and philosophy and religion, through church and state, through Paris and London, through New York and Boston and Concord, till we come to a hard bottom that rocks in place which we can call reality and say, "This is and no mistake. Henry David Thoreau new-york mistake philosophy Nature is doing her best each moment to make us well. She exists for no other end. Do not resist. With the least inclination to be well, we should not be sick. Henry David Thoreau suicide motivational inspirational Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment Henry David Thoreau silence disappointment dull I saw that the State was half-witted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and I lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it. Henry David Thoreau spoons saws half If misery loves company, misery has company enough. Henry David Thoreau sad disease love The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. Henry David Thoreau work witty travel Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself. Henry David Thoreau nature life funny Man is the artificer of his own happiness. Henry David Thoreau laughter happiness men The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams. Henry David Thoreau sunbeams bees-and-honey animal How can we remember our ignorance, which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all the time? Henry David Thoreau growth ignorance remember Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. Henry David Thoreau earth-day sky men Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York. We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate. Henry David Thoreau texas new-york mean I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion. Henry David Thoreau halloween lonely fall The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. Henry David Thoreau despair sad men After the first blush of sin comes its indifference. Henry David Thoreau sin literature firsts It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious. Henry David Thoreau literature sheep culture The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. Henry David Thoreau good-morning stars eye Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! Henry David Thoreau simplicity men life
