Henry David Thoreau

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.

Books, not which afford us a cowering enjoyment, but in which each thought is of unusual daring; such as an idle man cannot read, and a timid one would not be entertained by, which even make us dangerous to existing institution – such call I good books.

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

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.

It is the greatest of all advantages to enjoy no advantage at all.

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.

The seven deadly sins: Want of money, bad health, bad temper, chastity, family ties, knowing that you know things, and believing in the Christian religion.

To him whom contemplates a trait of natural beauty, no harm nor despair can come. The doctrines of despair, spiritual or political servitude, were never taught by those who shared the serenity of Nature. For each phase of Nature, though not invisible, is yet not too distinct or obtrusive. It is there to be found when we look for it, but not too demanding of our attention.

I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.

The fewer our wants the more we resemble the Gods.

When you’re first figuring yourself out, you care so much about what people think of you.

What provokes your risibility, Sir? Have I said anything that you understand? Then I ask pardon of the rest of the company.

Avoid inquisitive persons, for they are sure to be gossips, their ears are open to hear, but they will not keep what is entrusted to them.

Who ever is out of patience is out of possession of their soul.

There is this to be said in favor of drinking, that it takes the drunkard first out of society, then out of the world.

What we call education and culture is for the most part nothing but the substitution of reading for experience, of literature for life, of the obsolete fictitious for the contemporary real.

Guilt, regret, resentment, sadness and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence.

The great secret, Eliza, is not having bad manners or good manners or any other particular sort of manners, but having the same manner for all human souls: in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another.

What quarrel, what harshness, what unbelief in each other can subsist in the presence of a great calamity, when all the artificial vesture of our life is gone, and we are all one with each other in primitive mortal needs?

Intellect annuls fate. So far as a man thinks, he is free.

Read not to contradict and confute, not to believe and take for granted, not to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.