Henry David Thoreau

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.

Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.

I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make use and get advantage of her as I can, as is usual in such cases.

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend.

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.

The sun is but a morning star.

I am not much an advocate for traveling, and I observe that men run away to other countries because they are not good in their own, and run back to their own because they pass for nothing in the new places. For the most part, only the light characters travel. Who are you that have no task to keep you at home?

You are all fundamentalists with a top dressing of science. That is why you are the stupidest of conservatives and reactionists in politics and the most bigoted of obstructionists in science itself. When it comes to getting a move on you are all of the same opinion: stop it, flog it, hang it, dynamite it, stamp it out.

Try, try, try, and keep on trying is the rule that must be followed to become an expert in anything.

Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.

One wanders to the left, another to the right. Both are equally in error, but, are seduced by different delusions.

What fugitive from his country can also escape from himself.

Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes. Observe her labors, sluggard, and be wise.

Although the road is never ending, take a step and keep walking, do not look fearfully into the distance…on the path let the heart be your guide for the body is hesitant and full of fear.

What do we live for; if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?

It is better to live rich than to die rich.

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.

Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive.

When we quarrel, how we wish we had been blameless.

Don’t order any black things. Rejoice in his memory; and be radiant: leave grief to the children. Wear violet and purple. Be patient with the poor people who will snivel: they don’t know; and they think they will live for ever, which makes death a division instead of a bond.

The stupidity of men always invites the insolence of power.