Henry David Thoreau

Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.

Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? You may say the wisest thing you can, old man, you who have lived seventy years, not without honor of a kind, I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that.

Humility like the darkness, reveals the heavenly lights.

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each. Let them be your only diet, drink, and botanical medicines.

Rest in reason; move in passion.

You are alive, so be fully alive.

Work and thou canst escape the reward; whether the work be fine or course, planting corn or writing epics, so only it be honest work, done to thine own approbation, it shall earn a reward to the senses as well as to the thought.

Genial manners are good, and power of accommodation to any circumstance, but the high prize of life, the crowning fortune of a man is to be born with a bias to some pursuit, which finds him in employment and happiness, — whether it be to make baskets, or broadswords, or canals, or statutes, or songs. I doubt not this was the meaning of Socrates, when he pronounced artists the only truly wise, as being actually, not apparently so.

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till the other is ready, and it may be along time before they get off.

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

We are happier in many ways when we are old than when we were young. The young sow wild oats. The old grow sage.

I don’t think it’s meant for man to know everything at once.

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

Ignorance… is a painless evil; so, I should think, is dirt, considering the merry faces that go along with it.

Every one goes astray, but the least imprudent are they who repent the soonest.

He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind than the strokes of the oar; and many fold in their passage; while they lie waiting for the gale.

A crank is someone with a new idea – until it catches on.

They must first judge themselves, that presume to censure others: And such will not be apt to overshoot the Mark. We are too ready to retaliate, rather than forgive, or gain by Love and Information. And yet we could hurt no Man that we believe loves us. Let us then try what Love will do: For if Men did once see we Love them, we should soon find they would not harm us. Force may subdue, but Love gains: And he that forgives first, wins the [Laurel]. If I am even with my Enemy, the Debt is paid; but if I forgive it, I oblige him for ever.

They teach the morals of a whore, and the manners of a dancing master.