By a conscious effort of the mind we can stand aloof from actions and their consequences; and all things, good and bad, go by us like a torrent. Henry David Thoreau More Quotes by Henry David Thoreau More Quotes From Henry David Thoreau The laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day. Henry David Thoreau leisure integrity men I saw a muskrat come out of a hole in the ice ... While I am looking at him, I am thinking what he is thinking of me. He is a different sort of man, that's all. Henry David Thoreau philosophical animal men I have just been through the process of killing a cistudo for the sake of science; but I cannot excuse myself for this murder, and see that such actions are inconsistent with the poetic perception, however they may serve science, and will affect the quality of my observations. I pray that I may walk more innocently and serenely through nature. No reasoning whatever reconciles me to this act. It affects my day injuriously. I have lost some self-respect. I have a murderer's experience to a degree. Henry David Thoreau philosophical self animal He listens equally to the prayers of the believer and the unbeliever. Henry David Thoreau believer prayer spiritual Man emulates earth Earth emulates heaven Heaven emulates the Way The way emulates nature. Henry David Thoreau positive inspirational life Everything counts for gain when we are cosmically awake. Nothing counts, unless we are awake. No enjoyments last, no successes satisfy, no gains have meaning unless accomplished in a state of wakefulness. Henry David Thoreau gains lasts powerful I did not know that we had ever quarreled. Henry David Thoreau funny-famous-last-words positive-atheism last-words To speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it. Henry David Thoreau criticism steps men No definition of poetry is adequate unless it be poetry itself. The most accurate analysis by the rarest wisdom is yet insufficient, and the poet will instantly prove it false by setting aside its requisitions. It is indeed all that we do not know. Henry David Thoreau adequate analysis criticism Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently and without perturbation; let company come and let company go, let the bells ring and the children cry,-determine to make a day of it. Henry David Thoreau life children fall I got up early and bathed in the pond; that was a religious exercise, and one of the best things which I did. They say that characters were engraven on the bathing tub of King Tching-thang to this effect: "Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again." Henry David Thoreau religious kings life I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself. Henry David Thoreau library reading nine We cannot write well or truly but what we write with gusto. Henry David Thoreau gusto wells writing The more you have thought and written on a given theme, the more you can still write. Thought breeds thought. It grows under your hands. Henry David Thoreau given writing hands The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Henry David Thoreau liable government people Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. Henry David Thoreau advantage government men It is in vain to dream of a wildness distant from ourselves. There is none such. Henry David Thoreau bogs wilderness dream In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify. Henry David Thoreau creativity men life The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed. Henry David Thoreau mediocrity age boys Why should we be startled by death? Life is a constant putting off of the mortal coil - coat, cuticle, flesh and bones, all old clothes. Henry David Thoreau coats clothes flesh
