Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreauwas an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Resistance to Civil Government, an argument for disobedience to an unjust state...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth12 July 1817
CountryUnited States of America
cutting bird woods
He who cuts down woods beyond a certain limit exterminates birds.
character government people
The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way.
america people long
If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonal experience and the effectual complaints of the people, America would not long retain her rank among the nations.
winter sunshine fire
What fire could ever equal the sunshine of a winter's day?
reading bears may
Whatever sentence will bear to be read twice, we may be sure was thought twice.
betrayal our-words should
The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement.
expectations track answers
The universe constantly and obediently answers to our conceptions; whether we travel fast or slow, the track is laid for us.
truth opportunity years
I only desire sincere relations with the worthiest of my acquaintance, that they may give me an opportunity once in a year to speak the truth.
truth flower one-day
Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower into a truth.
fear truth expression
I fear chiefly lest my expression may not be extravagant enough, may not wander far enough beyond the narrow limit of my daily experience, so as to be adequate to the truth of which I have been convinced.
perseverance nature winning
Nature is slow, but sure; she works no faster than need be; she is the tortoise that wins the race by her perseverance.
beauty country views
True, there are architects so called in this country, and I have heard of one at least possessed with the idea of making architectural ornaments have a core of truth, a necessity, and hence a beauty, as if it were a revelation to him. All very well perhaps from his point of view, but only a little better than the common dilettantism.
kindness hate
We hate the kindness which we understand.
god flower tree
I respect not his labors, his farm where everything has its price, who would carry the landscape, who would carry his God, to market, if he could get anything for him; who goes to market for his god as it is; on whose farm nothing grows free, whose fields bear no crops, whose meadows no flowers, whose trees no fruits, but dollars.