Henry David Thoreau

I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.

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

It takes two to speak truth – one to speak, and another to hear.

Having each some shingles of thought well dried, we sat and whittled them.

Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors.

He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.

Why should we be cowed by the name of Action?

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.

Remember where you came from.

He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin.

No man can be a pure specialist without being in the strict sense an idiot.

There is a wisdom of the head, and there is a wisdom of the heart.

The way by which you may get money almost without exception leads downward.

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.

All my life affection has been showered upon me, and every forward step I have made has been taken in spite of it.

Recognize the ego for what it is: a collective dysfunction, the insanity of the human mind.

The less a man thinks or knows about his virtues, the better we like him.

It is our less conscious thoughts and our less conscious actions which mainly mould our lives and the lives of those who spring from us.

Only the traveling is good which reveals to me the value of home and enables me to enjoy it better.

A man’s growth is seen in the successive choirs of his friends.