Should not every apartment in which man dwells be lofty enough to create some obscurity overhead, where flickering shadows may play at evening about the rafters? Henry David Thoreau More Quotes by Henry David Thoreau More Quotes From Henry David Thoreau It is necessary not to be Christian to appreciate the beauty and significance of the life of Christ. Henry David Thoreau appreciate christian jesus Christ is the prince of Reformers and Radicals. Henry David Thoreau radicalism jesus christ The New Testament is an invaluable book, though I confess to having been slightly prejudiced against it in my very early days by the church and the Sabbath school, so that it seemed, before I read it, to be the yellowest book in the catalogue. Yet I early escaped from their meshes. It was hard to get the commentaries out of one's head and taste its true flavor. [...] It would be a poor story to be prejudiced against the Life of Christ because the book has been edited by Christians. Henry David Thoreau christian dream bible Our own country furnishes antiquities as ancient and durable, and as useful, as any; rocks at least as well covered with lichens,and a soil which, if it is virgin, is but virgin mould, the very dust of nature. What if we cannot read Rome or Greece, Etruria or Carthage, or Egypt or Babylon, on these; are our cliffs bare? Henry David Thoreau rocks country america An Englishman, methinks,--not to speak of other European nations,--habitually regards himself merely as a constituent part of theEnglish nation; he is a member of the royal regiment of Englishmen, and is proud of his company, as he has reason to be proud of it. But an American--one who has made tolerable use of his opportunities--cares, comparatively, little about such things, and is advantageously nearer to the primitive and the ultimate condition of man in these respects. Henry David Thoreau royal opportunity men The English did not come to America from a mere love of adventure, nor to truck with or convert the savages, nor to hold offices under the crown, as the French to a great extent did, but to live in earnest and with freedom. Henry David Thoreau freedom adventure america I am reminded by my journey how exceedingly new this country still is. You have only to travel for a few days into the interior and back parts even of many of the old States, to come to that very America which the Northmen, and Cabot, and Gosnold, and Smith, and Raleigh visited. Henry David Thoreau journey country america Have we even so much as discovered and settled the shores? Let a man travel on foot along the coastand tell me if it looks like a discovered and settled country, and not rather, for the most part, like a desolate island, and No-Man's Land. Henry David Thoreau islands men country While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy. Henry David Thoreau navy rivers america If Columbus was the first to discover the islands, Americus Vespucius and Cabot, and the Puritans, and we their descendants, havediscovered only the shores of America. Henry David Thoreau islands america firsts Columbus felt the westward tendency more strongly than any before. He obeyed it, and found a New World for Castile and Leon. Henry David Thoreau columbus america world Where on the globe can there be found an area of equal extent with that occupied by the bulk of our States, so fertile and so richand varied in its productions, and at the same time so habitable by the European, as this is? Henry David Thoreau states found america As a true patriot, I should be ashamed to think that Adam in paradise was more favorably situated on the whole than the backwoodsman in this country. Henry David Thoreau country america thinking A man might well pray that he may not taboo or curse any portion of nature by being buried in it. Henry David Thoreau may might men For the most part, the best man's spirit makes a fearful sprite to haunt his grave. Henry David Thoreau graves spirit men A hero's love is as delicate as a maiden's. Henry David Thoreau maidens hero love-is The condition-of-England question is a practical one. The condition of England demands a hero, not a poet. Henry David Thoreau demand england hero It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the universal favor with which the New Testament is outwardly received, and even the bigotry with which it is defended, there is no hospitality shown to, there is no appreciation of, the order of truth with which it deals. I know of no book that has so few readers. There is none so truly strange, and heretical, and unpopular. To Christians, no less than Greeks and Jews, it is foolishness and a stumbling-block. Henry David Thoreau block christian appreciation I do not believe there are eight hundred human beings on the globe. Henry David Thoreau eight human-nature believe For the most part, we are not where we are, but in a false position. Through an infirmity of our natures, we suppose a case, and put ourselves into it, and hence are in two cases at the same time, and it is doubly difficult to get out. Henry David Thoreau human-nature cases two
