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 I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do. We may waive just so much care of ourselves as we honestly bestow elsewhere. Henry David Thoreau trust care thinking He who is only a traveler learns things at second-hand and by the halves, and is poor authority. We are most interested when science reports what those men already know practically or instinctively, for that alone is a true humanity, or account of human experience. Henry David Thoreau men travel knowledge A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight. Henry David Thoreau majority minorities power Nothing is so much to be feared as fear. Henry David Thoreau mental-health anticipation fear Be as the sailor who keeps the polestar in his eye. By so doing we may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we will maintain a true course. Henry David Thoreau motivation eye may The words which express our faith and piety are not definite; yet they are significant and fragrant like frankincense to superior natures. Henry David Thoreau significant nature faith I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make use and get advantage of her as I can, as is usual in such cases. Henry David Thoreau fashion usual war Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps. Henry David Thoreau swamps fields cities When my hoe tinkled against the stones, that music echoed to the woods and the sky, and was an accompaniment to my labor which yielded an instant and immeasurable crop. It was no longer beans that I hoed, nor I that hoed beans; and I remembered with as much pity as pride, if I remembered at all, my acquaintances who had gone to the city to attend the oratorios. Henry David Thoreau pride cities sky That government is best which governs not at all; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Henry David Thoreau anarchist kind men Most people dread finding out when they come to die that they have never really lived. Henry David Thoreau findings dread people We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without. Henry David Thoreau proportion less-is-more simplicity The generative energy, which, when we are loose, dissipates and makes us unclean, when we are continent invigorates and inspires us. Chastity is the flowering of man; and what are called Genius, Heroism, Holiness, and the like, are but various fruits which succeed it. Henry David Thoreau energy men inspire Many of the phenomena of Winter are suggestive of an inexpressible tenderness and fragile delicacy. We are accustomed to hear this king described as a rude and boisterous tyrant; but with the gentleness of a lover he adorns the tresses of Summer. Henry David Thoreau kings summer winter That devilish Iron Horse, whose ear-rending neigh is heard throughout the town, has muddied the Boiling Spring with his foot, and he it is that has browsed off all the woods on Walden shore, that Trojan horse, with a thousand men in his belly, introduced by mercenary Greeks! Where is the country's champion, the Moore of Moore Hall, to meet him at the Deep Cut and thrust an avenging lance between the ribs of the bloated pest? Henry David Thoreau horse spring country You must get your living by loving, or at least half your life is a failure. Henry David Thoreau half life-is success The government of the world I live in was not framed, like that of Britain, in after-dinner conversations over the wine. Henry David Thoreau government wine world Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. Henry David Thoreau army government may This American government - what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will. Henry David Thoreau vitality integrity men I respect not his labors, his farm where everything has its price, who would carry the landscape, who would carry his God, to market, if he could get anything for him; who goes to market for his god as it is; on whose farm nothing grows free, whose fields bear no crops, whose meadows no flowers, whose trees no fruits, but dollars. Henry David Thoreau flower god tree
