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
family faith morning
All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.
men usa political
How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.
witty powerful humorous
Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.
sorry apology men
I am sorry to think that you do not get a man's most effective criticism until you provoke him. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness.
relaxation aimless-life insult
He who parades his virtues seldom leads the parade. He who puts up with insult invites injury. Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life. This life in the present.
relaxation aimless-life this-life
Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life. This life in the present.
matter tough spirit
There are various tough problems yet to solve, and we must shift to live, betwixt spirit and matter, such a human life as we can.
letting-go past bright-future
Let go of the past and go for the future.
live-life endeavor
Endeavor to live the life you have imagined.
scenery seers
The scenery when it is truly seen reacts on the life of the seer.
shapes lasts toil
All endeavour calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil.
simple years supposing-that
A simple woman down in Tyngsborough, at whose house I once stopped to get a draught of water, when I said, recognizing the bucket, that I had stopped there nine years before for the same purpose, asked if I was not a traveler, supposing that I had been traveling ever since, and had now come round again.
children school thinking
I think it would be worth the while to introduce a school of children to such [an oak grove], that they may get an idea of the primitive oaks before they are all gone, instead of hiring botanists to lecture to them when it is too late.
sea rivers bird
Do you know how the naturalist learns all the secrets of the forest, of plants, of birds, of beasts, of reptiles, of fishes, of the rivers and the sea? When he goes into the woods the birds fly before him and he finds none; when he goes to the river bank, the fish and the reptile swim away and leave him alone. His secret is patience; he sits down, and sits still; he is a statue; he is a log.