Henry David Thoreau

What is once well done is done forever.

Go fish and hunt far and wide day by day – farther and wider – and rest thee by many brooks and hearth-sides without misgiving. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played.

What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing about the origin and destiny of cats?

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.

Pity the man who has a character to support – it is worse than a large family – he is silent poor indeed.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

Those who would mend the world must first mend themselves.

The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.

Broken, like a mosaic, I am pieced together. I am still a piece of art, though I may not be fully appreciated by all, the ones that see the beauty, are the ones who have the understanding; gained through experience, that to break, doesn’t mean to give up.

We are just statistics, born to consume resources.

This is a fault common to all singers, that among their friends they will never sing when they are asked; unasked, they will never desist.

When you place yourself in a position to help another, you will discover your greater capabilities.

The Holy Roman Empire is neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire.

The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.

The only thing grief as taught me is to know how shallow it is.

Possession isn’t nine-tenths of the law. It’s nine-tenths of the problem.

Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.

We are apt to love praise, but not deserve it. But if we would deserve it, we must love virtue more than that.

Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.

I was afraid that by observing objects with my eyes and trying to comprehend them with each of my other senses I might blind my soul altogether.

The sons of Judah have to choose that God may again choose them. The divine principle of our race is action, choice, resolved memory.