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 Any sincere thought is irresistible. Henry David Thoreau sincerity sincere thinking The word which is best said came nearest to not being spoken at all, for it is cousin to a deed which the speaker could have better done. Nay, almost it must have taken the place of a deed by some urgent necessity, even by some misfortune, so that the truest writer will be some captive knight, after all. And perhaps the fates had such a design, when, having stored Raleigh so richly with the substance of life and experience, they made him a fast prisoner, and compelled him to make his words his deeds, and transfer to his expression the emphasis and sincerity of his action. Henry David Thoreau cousin taken inspirational In an ancient and dead language, any recognition of living nature attracts us. These are such sentences as were written while grass grew and water ran. It is no small recommendation when a book will stand the test of mere unobstructed sunshine and daylight. Henry David Thoreau sunshine water book All the moral laws are readily translated into natural philosophy, for often we have only to restore the primitive meaning of thewords by which they are expressed, or to attend to their literal instead of their metaphorical sense. They are already supernatural philosophy. Henry David Thoreau philosophical law philosophy Such is the never-failing beauty and accuracy of language, the most perfect art in the world; the chisel of a thousand years retouches it. Henry David Thoreau perfect years art Give me a sentence which no intelligence can understand. There must be a kind of life and palpitation to it, and under its words akind of blood must circulate forever. Henry David Thoreau giving blood knowledge How shall we account for our pursuits, if they are original? We get the language with which to describe our various lives out of acommon mint. Henry David Thoreau mint pursuit language The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred million to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face? We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. Henry David Thoreau expectations sleep men Let a slight snow come and cover the earth, and the tracks of men will show how little the woods and fields are frequented. Henry David Thoreau track snow men Faint heart never won true friend. O my friend, may it come to pass, once, that when you are my friend I may be yours. Henry David Thoreau true-friend heart may ...how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! Henry David Thoreau ruts conformity tradition Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them? Henry David Thoreau civil-disobedience unjust law A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the Henry David Thoreau hero men enemy With a little more deliberation in the choice of their pursuits, all men would perhaps become essentially students and observers, for certainly their nature and destiny are interesting to all alike. Henry David Thoreau destiny men interesting In my Pantheon, Pan still reigns in his pristine glory, with his ruddy face, his flowing beard, and his shaggy body, his pipe and his crook, his nymph Echo, and his chosen daughter Iambe; for the great god Pan is not dead, as was rumored. No god ever dies. Perhaps of all the gods of New England and of ancient Greece, I am most constant at his shrine. Henry David Thoreau nymphs echoes daughter No man's thoughts are new, but the style of their expression is the never-failing novelty which cheers and refreshes men. If we were to answer the question, whether the mass of men, as we know them, talk as the standard authors and reviewers write, or rather as this man writes, we should say that he alone begins to write their language at all. Henry David Thoreau cheer writing men However much we admire the orator's occasional bursts of eloquence, the noblest written words are commonly as far behind or abovethe fleeting spoken language as the firmament with its stars is behind the clouds. Henry David Thoreau fleeting stars clouds It would seem as if the very language of our parlors would lose all its nerve and degenerate into palaver wholly, our lives pass at such remoteness from its symbols, and its metaphors and tropes are necessarily so far fetched. Henry David Thoreau degenerates nerves language The dinner even is only the parable of a dinner, commonly. Henry David Thoreau parables dinner language There are other letters for the child to learn than those which Cadmus invented. The Spaniards have a good term to express this wild and dusky knolwedge, Grammatica parda, tawny grammar, a kind of mother-wit derived from that same leopard to which I have referred. Henry David Thoreau mother children knowledge
