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
nature rooms
I have a room all to myself; it is nature.
government law let-it-go
If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth--certainly the machine will wear out… but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.
life thinking conformity
As to conforming outwardly and living your own life inwardly, I do not think much of that.
happiness laughter men
Man is the artificer of his own happiness.
advice born
We are born as innocents. We are polluted by advice.
art may lips
A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips; -- not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself.
life book reading
How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book.
men rivers path
The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.
simple two simplicity
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.
food greed cooking
He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.
music men piano
Men profess to be lovers of music, but for the most part they give no evidence in their opinions and lives that they have heard it.
nature time gentle-touch
The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.
memories inspiration losing
Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them.
nature arrogance bees
There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we know. The keeping of bees, for instance.