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
bend force government instant itself living losing man recent single though transmit vitality
This American government -- what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will.
friend takes
A friend is one who takes me for what I am.
desperate wisdom
It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
anybody knew pride talk whom
I would not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.
cultivate desirable law law-and-lawyers respect
It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for law, so much as a respect for right.
cultivate desirable respect
It is not so desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right
It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?
late prejudice prejudices
It is never too late to give up your prejudices
deep die discover life marrow suck woods
I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately, I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die Discover that I had not lived.
body either good soul work
Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul is the work of the soul, and good for either is the work of the other.
dreams life truest
Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.
character family large man pity poor silent support worse
Pity the man who has a character to support --it is worse than a large family -- he is silent poor indeed.
accounts affairs count half hundred instead life million simplicity
Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! 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.
direction laws life simplify universe
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.