Henry David Thoreau

Sobriety, severity, and self-respect are the foundations of all true sociality.

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

After the first blush of sin comes its indifference.

The purity men love is like the mists which envelope the earth, and not like the azure ether beyond.

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

Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are.

God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh.

For too long I have silenced my heart, that now, when I give it the opportunity to speak, it no longer remembers its voice. Locked away, it forgot what it’s like to be free; to roam. Imprisoned within loneliness, I fear Stockholm syndrome has developed.

The eagle has ceased to scream, but the parrots will now begin to chatter. The war of the giants is over and the pigmies will now start to squabble.

Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried, or childless men.

In fine, he that is drunk is not a Man: Because he is so long void of Reason, that distinguishes a Man from a Beast.

The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there.

He has the deed half done who has made a beginning.

I don’t think the human mind can comprehend the past and the future. They are both just illusions that can manipulate you into thinking theres some kind of change.

There be three things which make a nation great and prosperous: a fertile soil, busy workshops, easy conveyance for men and goods from place to place.

Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so, too.

Knowledge is more than equivalent to force.

Life is short, but there is always time for courtesy.

A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.

Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend.

There are few minds to which tyranny is not delightful.