I do not know but thoughts written down thus in a journal might be printed in the same form with greater advantage than if the related ones were brought together into separate essays. Henry David Thoreau More Quotes by Henry David Thoreau More Quotes From Henry David Thoreau I am too easily contented with a slight and almost animal happiness. My happiness is a good deal like that of the woodchucks. Henry David Thoreau woodchucks animal happiness I do not know what right I have to so much happiness, but rather hold it in reserve till the time of my desert. Henry David Thoreau desert knows happiness My actual life is a fact, in view of which I have no occasion to congratulate myself; but for my faith and aspiration I have respect. It is from these that I speak. Henry David Thoreau ambition faith views Alas! this is the crying sin of the age, this want of faith in the prevalence of a man. Nothing can be effected but by one man. Hewho wants help wants everything. True, this is the condition of our weakness, but it can never be the means of our recovery. We must first succeed alone, that we may enjoy our success together. Henry David Thoreau recovery faith success Each reaching and aspiration is an instinct with which all nature consists and cöoperates, and therefore it is not in vain. But alas! each relaxing and desperation is an instinct too. To be active, well, happy, implies courage. To be ready to fight in a duel or a battle implies desperation, or that you hold your life cheap. Henry David Thoreau despair fighting courage I think that Nature meant kindly when she made our brothers few. However, my voice is still for peace. Henry David Thoreau nature friendship peace I often accuse my finest acquaintances of an immense frivolity; for, while there are manners and compliments we do not meet, we donot teach one another the lessons of honesty and sincerity that the brutes do, or of steadiness and solidity that the rocks do. The fault is commonly mutual; however, for we do not habitually demand any more of each other. Henry David Thoreau honesty friendship character We should never stand upon ceremony with sincerity. We should never cheat and insult and banish one another by our meanness, if there were present the kernel of worth and friendliness. We should not meet thus in haste. Henry David Thoreau insult haste friendship I had but three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship; three for society. When visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers there was but the third chair for them all, but they generally economized the room by standing up. Henry David Thoreau numbers friendship two Knowledge is to be acquired only by a corresponding experience. How can we know what we are told merely? Each man can interpret another's experience only by his own. Henry David Thoreau communication men knowledge Love is the profoundest of secrets. Divulged, even to the beloved, it is no longer Love. As if it were merely I that loved you. When love ceases, then it is divulged. Henry David Thoreau communication secret love-is The gods cannot misunderstand, man cannot explain. Henry David Thoreau communication god men What means the fact--which is so common, so universal--that some soul that has lost all hope for itself can inspire in another listening soul an infinite confidence in it, even while it is expressing its despair? Henry David Thoreau communication hope mean It is not in vain that man speaks to man. This is the value of literature. Henry David Thoreau communication literature men Letter-writing too often degenerates into a communicating of facts, and not of truths; of other men's deeds and not our thoughts.What are the convulsions of a planet, compared with the emotions of the soul? or the rising of a thousand suns, if that is not enlightened by a ray? Henry David Thoreau communication writing men Perhaps the facts most astounding and most real are never communicated by man to man. Henry David Thoreau communication real men I have found it a singular luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side. Henry David Thoreau luxury communication opposites Books are for the most part willfully and hastily written, as parts of a system to supply a want real or imagined. Henry David Thoreau real want book Time & Co. are, after all, the only quite honest and trustworthy publishers that we know. Henry David Thoreau trustworthy honest literature Much is published, but little printed. Henry David Thoreau printed littles
