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
born failure men
Men are born to succeed, not to fail.
require
I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.
ability conscious endeavor evaluate fact life man
I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioning ability of man to evaluate his life by a conscious endeavor
certain conscious criticism however human intense note presence remote self-knowledge sensible sharing stand taking thoughts
I know myself as a human entity; the scene, so to speak, or thoughts are affection; and am sensible of certain doubleness by which I can stand as remote from myself as from another. However intense my experience, I am conscious of the presence and criticism of a part of me, which, as it were, is no part of me, but spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is no more I than it is you.
dark paper piece sleep wrote
I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep, I wrote in the dark
american-author wilderness
In wilderness is the preservation of the world.
great love narrow reach room sail sea short souls vain voyages wind
In the love of narrow souls I make many short voyages but in vain - I find no sea room - but in great souls I sail before the wind without a watch, and never reach the shore.
aim fail hit run though
In the long run you hit only what you aim at. Therefore, though you should fail immediately, you had better aim at something high.
aim hit men
In the long run, men only hit what they aim at.
aim fail hit men though
In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.
american-author companion found love
I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.
abroad among companion found lonely man men stay thinking
I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.
bottom current detect divine drink eternity god himself indeed lapse moment occasions places present sandy shallow stream thin time true
In eternity there is indeed something true and sublime. But all these times and places and occasions are now and here. God himself culminates in the present moment and will never be more divine in the lapse of the ages. Time is but a stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it, but when I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away but eternity remains.
earnest explore infinitely land learn mysterious mystery require sea time
At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be infinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable.