Henry David Thoreau

I am sorry to think that you do not get a man’s most effective criticism until you provoke him. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness.

To him whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with the sun, the day is a perpetual morning.

An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.

I have been breaking silence these twenty-three years and have hardly made a rent in it.

A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.

Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

Discretion of speech is more than eloquence, and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal is more than to speak in good words, or in good order.

We do not learn by inference and deduction and the application of mathematics to philosophy, but by direct intercourse and sympathy.

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

It’s the ones that stayed after the Exodus, that I knew were real and could handle the truth; that would stay with me on my journey, for better or worse.

Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.

The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men.

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

The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.

Suppose the world were only one of God’s jokes, would you work any the less to make it a good joke instead of a bad one?

Women tell men things that they are not likely to find out for themselves.

Often the surest way to convey misinformation is to tell the strict truth.

Always do what you are afraid to do.

Disease generally begins that equality which death completes.

We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.

Do not discourage your children from hoarding, if they have a taste to it; whoever lays up his penny rather than part with it for a cake, at least is not the slave of gross appetite; and shows besides a preference always to be esteemed, of the future to the present moment.