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
men machines body
The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies.
effort mind action
By a conscious effort of the mind we can stand aloof from actions and their consequences; and all things, good and bad, go by us like a torrent.
wise men wish
A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.
summer morning taken
I love a broad margin to my life. Sometimes, in a summer morning, having taken my accustomed bath, I sat in my sunny doorway from sunrise til noon, rapt in a revery.
book men unusual
Books, not which afford us a cowering enjoyment, but in which each thought is of unusual daring; such as an idle man cannot read, and a timid one would not be entertained by, which even make us dangerous to existing institution - such call I good books.
men wind common
The virtues of a superior man are like the wind; the virtues of a common man are like the grass; the grass, when the wind passes over it, bends.
together might separation
I do not know but thoughts written down thus in a journal might be printed in the same form with greater advantage than if the related ones were brought together into separate essays.
science improvement invention
If words were invented to conceal thought, newspapers are a great improvement of a bad invention
self-reliance firsts remember
We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking.
book differences self-reliance
In most books, the I, of first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference.
law lawyer break
I say, break the law.
men names landscape
If the fairest features of the landscape are to be named after men, let them be the noblest and worthiest men alone.
stress adventure men
But why should not the New Englander try new adventures - not lay so much stress on his grain, his potato and grass crop, and his orchards - and raise other crops than these? Why concern ourselves so much about our beans for seed, and not be concerned at all about a new generation of men.
respect men firsts
. . . we should be men first, and subjects afterward.