Henry David Thoreau

One farmer says to me, ‘You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;’ and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle.

Time is but the stream I go fishing in. I drink at it, but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. It’s thin current slides away, but eternity remains.

The purity men love is like the mists which envelope the earth, and not like the azure ether beyond.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

Explore thyself. Herein are demanded the eye and the nerve.

Biographies are but the clothes and buttons of the man. The biography of the man himself cannot be written.

A man is known by the books he reads, by the company he keeps, by the praise he gives, by his dress, by his tastes, by his distastes, by the stories he tells, by his gait, by the notion of his eye, by the look of his house, of his chamber; for nothing on earth is solitary but every thing hath affinities infinite.

For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction.

How pleasant it is for a father to sit at his child’s board. It is like an aged man reclining under the shadow of an oak which he has planted.

If you would have me weep, you must first of all feel grief yourself.

The self divides into ten billion distinct illuminating spirits. Distinguish these without falling into names and classifications.

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.

He does not care for flowers. Calls them rubbish, and cannot tell one from another, and thinks it is superior to feel like that.

We must hold a man amenable to reason for the choice of his daily craft or profession. It is not an excuse any longer for his deeds that they are the custom of his trade. What business has he with an evil trade?

You show your worth by what you seek! – Rumi

If you would lift me up you must be on higher ground.

Let the people think they govern and they will be governed.

An idea must not be condemned for being a little shy and incoherent; all new ideas are shy when introduced first among our old ones. We should have patience and see whether the incoherency is likely to wear off or to wear on, in which latter case the sooner we get rid of them the better.

No man was ever great by imitation.

Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.