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 So easy is it, though many housekeepers doubt it, to establish new and better customs in the place of the old. Henry David Thoreau tradition change doubt Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances. Henry David Thoreau change animal men For the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to make our occasions. They are, in fact, the cause of our distraction. Henry David Thoreau events causes change As I stand over the insect crawling amid the pine needles on the forest floor, and endeavoring to conceal itself from my sight, and ask myself why it will cherish those humble thoughts, and hide its head from me who might, perhaps, be its benefactor, and impart to its race some cheering information, I am reminded of the greater Benefactor and Intelligence that stands over me the human insect. Henry David Thoreau cheer humility god The monument of death will outlast the memory of the dead. The Pyramids do not tell the tale which was confided to them; the living fact commemorates itself. Henry David Thoreau pyramids memories facts There are some things which a man never speaks of, which are much finer kept silent about. To the highest communications we only lend a silent ear. Henry David Thoreau communication silence men We have heard much about the poetry of mathematics, but very little of it has yet been sung. The ancients had a juster notion of their poetic value than we. Henry David Thoreau poetic poetry littles Mathematics should be mixed not only with physics but with ethics. Henry David Thoreau ethics morality physics There may be an excess of cultivation as well as of anything else, until civilization becomes pathetic. A highly cultivated man,--all whose bones can be bent! whose heaven-born virtues are but good manners! Henry David Thoreau men civilization heaven See yonder thin column of smoke curling up through the woods from some invisible farmhouse, the standard raised over some rural homestead.... It is a hieroglyphic of man's life, and suggests more intimate and important things than the boiling of a pot. Where its fine column rises above the forest, like an ensign, some human life has planted itself,--and such is the beginning of Rome, the establishment of the arts, and the foundation of empires, whether on the prairies of America or the steppes of Asia. Henry David Thoreau men america art How far men go for the material of their houses! The inhabitants of the most civilized cities, in all ages, send into far, primitive forests, beyond the bounds of their civilization, where the moose and bear and savage dwell, for their pine boards for ordinary use. And, on the other hand, the savage soon receives from cities iron arrow-points, hatchets, and guns, to point his savageness with. Henry David Thoreau gun native-american men Nations are possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave. What if equal pains were taken to smooth and polish their manners? Henry David Thoreau pain taken memories Within the memory of many of my townsmen the road near which my house stands resounded with the laugh and gossip of inhabitants, and the woods which border it were notched and dotted here and there with their little gardens and dwellings, though it was then much more shut in by the forest than now. Henry David Thoreau garden dwelling memories If it is asserted that civilization is a real advance in the condition of man,--and I think that it is, though only the wise improve their advantages,--it must be shown that it has produced better dwellings without making them more costly; and the cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. Henry David Thoreau real wise running Most of the stone a nation hammers goes toward its tomb only. It buries itself alive. Henry David Thoreau hammers pride civilization But, commonly, men are as much afraid of love as of hate. Henry David Thoreau hate fear men It seems as if the more youthful and impressible streams can hardly resist the numerous invitations and temptations to leave theirnative beds and run down their neighbors' channels. Henry David Thoreau temptation rivers running We never conceive the greatness of our fates. Henry David Thoreau fate destiny greatness I suppose that the great questions of "Fate, Freewill, Foreknowledge Absolute," which used to be discussed at Concord, are still unsettled. Henry David Thoreau fate used stills A man’s ignorance sometimes is not only useful, but beautiful - while his knowledge, so called, is oftentimes worse than useless, besides being ugly. Which is the best man to deal with - he who knows nothing about a subject, and, what is extremely rare, knows that he knows nothing, or he who really knows something about it, but thinks that he knows all? Henry David Thoreau ignorance beautiful men
