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
travel men simplicity
A man may travel fast enough and earn his living on the road.
money truth-is buried
The truth is, there is money buried everywhere, and you have only to go to work to find it.
eggs hens should
Though the hen should sit all day, she could lay only one egg, and, besides, would not have picked up materials for another.
writing hands style
Steady labor with the hands, which engrosses the attention also, is unquestionably the best method of removing palaver and sentimentality out of one's style, both of speaking and writing.
hard-work writing school
We are often struck by the force and precision of style to which hard-working men, unpracticed in writing, easily attain when required to make the effort. As if plainness and vigor and sincerity, the ornaments of style, were better learned on the farm and in the workshop than in the schools. The sentences written by such rude hands are nervous and tough, like hardened thongs, the sinews of the deer, or the roots of the pine.
perfection masters workers
There are many skillful apprentices, but few master workmen.
employment imagine contemplation
One can hardly imagine a more healthful employment, or one more favorable to contemplation and the observation of nature.
forgotten ends labor
We 've wholly forgotten how to die. But be sure you do die nevertheless. Do your work, and finish it. If you know how to begin, you will know when to end.
men artist law
The Man of Genius may at the same time be, indeed is commonly, an Artist, but the two are not to be confounded. The Man of Genius,referred to mankind, is an originator, an inspired or demonic man, who produces a perfect work in obedience to laws yet unexplored. The artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected. There has been no man of pure Genius, as there has been none wholly destitute of Genius.
lying thinking white
That is mere sentimentality that lies abed by day and thinks itself white, far from the tan and callus of experience.
beautiful animal imagination
The repugnance to animal food is not the effect of experience, but is an instinct. It appeared more beautiful to live low and farehard in many respects; and though I never did so, I went far enough to please my imagination.
experience world deeds
In the unbending of the arm to do the deed there is experience worth all the maxims in the world.
angel men experience
If within the sophisticated man there is not an unsophisticated one, then he is but one of the devil's angels.
experience wealth devotion
It requires more than a day's devotion to know and to possess the wealth of a day.