Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling. Henry David Thoreau More Quotes by Henry David Thoreau More Quotes From Henry David Thoreau Good deeds are no less good because their object is unworthy. Henry David Thoreau objects morality deeds Whatever is, and is not ashamed to be, is good. Henry David Thoreau good-moral morality ashamed It becomes the moralist, too, to inquire what man might do to improve and beautify the system; what to make the stars shine more brightly, the sun more cheery and joyous, the moon more placid and content. Henry David Thoreau stars moon men There is no such thing as accomplishing a righteous reform by the use of "expediency." There is no such thing as sliding up- hill.In morals the only sliders are backsliders. Henry David Thoreau morality reform use Moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep. Henry David Thoreau reform effort sleep The Jesuits were quite balked by those Indians who, being burned at the stake, suggested new modes of tortures to their tormentors. Being superior to physical suffering, it sometimes chanced that they were superior to any consolation which the missionaries could offer; and the law to do as you would be done by fell with less persuasiveness on the ears of those who, for their part, did not care how they were done by, who loved their enemies after a new fashion, and came very near freely forgiving them all they did. Henry David Thoreau forgiving fashion law No man loses ever on a lower level by magnanimity on a higher. Henry David Thoreau morality levels men There is no ill which may not be dissipated, like the dark, if you let in a stronger light upon it. Henry David Thoreau light evil dark The tree of Knowledge is a Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. Henry David Thoreau good-and-evil evil tree If a man were to place himself in an attitude to bear manfully the greatest evil that can be inflicted on him, he would find suddenly that there was no such evil to bear; his brave back would go a-begging. Henry David Thoreau evil attitude men I never dreamed of any enormity greater than I have committed. I never knew, and never shall know, a worse man than myself. Henry David Thoreau evil dream men All health and success does me good, however far off and withdrawn it may appear; all disease and failure helps to make me sad anddoes me evil, however much sympathy it may have with me or I with it. Henry David Thoreau health evil success Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts. Henry David Thoreau couple sea attitude It is not worth the while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar. Yet do this even till you can do better, and you may perhaps find some "Symmes' Hole" by which to get at the inside at last. Henry David Thoreau zanzibar cat world Man makes very much such a nest for his domestic animals, of withered grass and fodder, as the squirrels and many other wild creatures do for themselves. Henry David Thoreau squirrels animal men Few, if any, creatures are equally active all night. Henry David Thoreau creatures active night I like sometimes to take rank hold on life and spend my day more as the animals do. Perhaps I have owed to this employment and tohunting, when quite young, my closest acquaintance with Nature. They early introduce us to and detain us in scenery with which otherwise, at that age, we should have little acquaintance. Henry David Thoreau hunting should-have animal Some have asked if the stock of men could not be improved,--if they could not be bred as cattle. Let Love be purified, and all therest will follow. A pure love is thus, indeed, the panacea for all the ills of the world. Henry David Thoreau love-is men world Men commonly couple with their idea of marriage a slight degree at least of sensuality; but every lover, the world over, believesin its inconceivable purity. Henry David Thoreau marriage couple men They are not callow like the young of most birds, but more perfectly developed and precocious even than chickens. The remarkably adult yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very memorable. All intelligence seems reflected in them. They suggest not merely the purity of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by experience. Such an eye was not born when the bird was, but is coeval with the sky it reflects. The woods do not yield another such a gem. Henry David Thoreau eye memorable sky
