Henry David Thoreau

Only that day dawns to which we are awake.

Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them.

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

Farmers are respectable and interesting to me in proportion as they are poor.

We should come home from adventures and perils and discoveries with new experiences and character.

Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.

The cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that free man acknowledges. It is the only security that free man desires.

See only that thou work and thou canst not escape the reward.

Silence is the great teacher, and to learn its lessons you must pay attention to it. There is no substitute for the creative inspiration, knowledge, and stability that come from knowing how to contact your core of inner silence. The great Sufi poet Rumi wrote, Only let the moving waters calm down, and the sun and moon will be reflected on the surface of your being.

Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again.

Rich men without convictions are more dangerous in modern society than poor women without chastity.

The mass never comes up to the standard of its best member, but on the contrary degrades itself to a level with the lowest.

The President has paid dear for his White House. It has commonly cost him all his peace, and the best of his manly attributes. To preserve for a short time so conspicuous an appearance before the world, he is content to eat dust before the real masters who stand erect behind the throne.

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.

As an example to others, and not that I care for moderation myself, it has always been my rule never to smoke when asleep and never to refrain when awake.

The giving of love is an education in itself.

Manners require time, and nothing is more vulgar than haste.

There is only one duty, only one safe course, and that is to try to be right.

Money is the most important thing in the world. It represents health, strength, honor, generosity, and beauty as conspicuously as the want of it represents illness, weakness, disgrace, meanness, and ugliness.

It is with books as with men: a very small number play a great part.