The cost of a thing is something called life which is given in exchange for it. Henry David Thoreau More Quotes by Henry David Thoreau More Quotes From Henry David Thoreau I walk out into a nature such as the old prophets and poets Menu, Moses, Homer, Chaucer, walked in. You may name it America, but it is not America. Neither Americus Vespucius, nor Columbus, nor the rest were the discoverers of it. There is a truer account of it in Mythology than in any history of America so called that I have seen. Henry David Thoreau nature names america Nature has left nothing to the mercy of man. Henry David Thoreau nature mercy men Left to herself, nature is always more or less civilized, and delights in a certain refinement; but where the axe has encroached upon the edge of the forest, the dead and unsightly limbs of the pine, which she had concealed with green banks of verdure, are exposed to sight. Henry David Thoreau nature sight forests I do not know where to find in any literature, whether ancient or modern, any adequate account of that Nature with which I am acquainted. Henry David Thoreau adequate nature literature For my part, I feel that with regard to Nature I live a sort of border life, on the confines of a world, into which I make occasional and transient forays only, and my patriotism and allegiance to the state into whose territories I seem to retreat are those of a moss-trooper. Unto a life which I call natural I would gladly follow even a will-o'-the-wisp through bogs and sloughs unimaginable, but no moon nor fire-fly has shown me the cause-way to it. Nature is a personality so vast and universal that we have never seen one of her features. Henry David Thoreau nature moon fire Carlyle said that how to observe was to look, but I say that it is rather to see, and the more you look the less you will observe. Henry David Thoreau observation said looks How imperceptibly the first springing takes place! Henry David Thoreau spring firsts Spring. March fans it, April christens it, and May puts on its jacket and trousers. Henry David Thoreau fans may spring In a pleasant spring morning all men's sins are forgiven. Henry David Thoreau spring morning men The first sparrow of spring! The year beginning with younger hope than ever! Henry David Thoreau sparrows spring years Shall a man not have his spring as well as the plants? Henry David Thoreau plant spring men If we dealt only with the false and dishonest, we should at last forget how to speak truth. Henry David Thoreau lasts speak truth As I came home through the woods with my string of fish, trailing my pole, it being now quite dark, I caught a glimpse of a woodchuck stealing across my path, and felt a strange thrill of savage delight, and was strongly tempted to seize and devour him raw; not that I was hungry then, except for that wildness which he represented. Henry David Thoreau woods dark home What we call wildness is a civilization other than our own. Henry David Thoreau wildness civilization Whatever has not come under the sway of man is wild. In this sense original and independent men are wild - not tamed and broken by society. Henry David Thoreau independent broken men Trench says a wild man is a willed man. Well, then, a man of will who does what he wills or wishes, a man of hope and of the future tense, for not only the obstinate is willed, but far more the constant and persevering. The obstinate man, properly speaking, is one who will not. The perseverance of the saints is positive willedness, not a mere passive willingness. The fates are wild, for they will; and the Almighty is wild above all, as fate is. Henry David Thoreau perseverance fate men What a singular fact for an angel visitant to this earth to carry back in his note-book, that men were forbidden to expose their bodies under the severest penalties! Henry David Thoreau angel men book To a small man every greater is an exaggeration. Henry David Thoreau small-man exaggeration-is men Oh, one world at a time! Henry David Thoreau miscellaneous world I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion. I would rather ride on earth in an ox cart, with a free circulation, than go to heaven in the fancy car of an excursion train and breathe a malaria all the way. Henry David Thoreau fancy-cars anxiety heaven
