Henry David Thoreau

If I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.

Only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him.

Do what you love. Know you own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.

For what are the classics but the noblest thoughts of man? They are the only oracles which are not decayed, and there are such answers to the most modern inquiry in them as Delphi and Dodona never gave. We might as well omit to study Nature because she is old.

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.

We rail at trade, but the historian of the world will see that it was the principle of liberty; that it settled America, and destroyed feudalism, and made peace and keeps peace; that it will abolish slavery.

Undeservedly you will atone for the sins of your fathers.

Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly and they will show themselves great.

In Boston they ask, How much does he know? In New York, How much is he worth? In Philadelphia, Who were his parents?

Train hard, turn up, run your best and the rest will take care of itself.

Be true to your own act and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant to break the monotony of a decorous age.

Be passionate about something and lean to that strength.

Do not do unto others as you expect they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.

Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all the management of human affairs.

Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.

We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.

He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.