Henry David Thoreau

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.

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.

Almost any man knows how to earn money, but not one in a million knows how to spend it.

It seems to me that the god that is commonly worshipped in civilized countries is not at all divine, though he bears a divine name, but is the overwhelming authority and respectability of mankind combined. Men reverence one another, not yet God.

We need only travel enough to give our intellects an airing.

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose for you will become like them.

Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.

It is easier to stay out than get out.

There are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

Everyone has the right to be stupid on occasion, but Comrade Macdonald abuses the privilege.

There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspect.

Your most precious, valued possessions and your greatest powers are invisible and intangible. No one can take them. You, and you alone, can give them. You will receive abundance for your giving.

I found you essay to be good and original. However, the part that was original was not good and the part that was good was not original.

As to the rout that is made about people who are ruined by extravagance, it is no matter to the nation that some individuals suffer. When so much general productive exertion is the consequence of luxury, the nation does not care though there are debtors; nay, they would not care though their creditors were there too.

Those who cannot tell what they desire or expect, still sigh and struggle with indefinite thoughts and vast wishes.

To accept some idea of truth without experiencing it is like a painting of a cake on paper which you can not eat.

All I say is, kings is kings, and you got to make allowances. Take them all around, they’re a mighty ornery lot. It’s the way they’re raised.

Sculpture and painting have the effect of teaching us manners and abolishing hurry.

He who praises everybody, praises nobody.