Henry David Thoreau

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.

I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.

If misery loves company, misery has company enough.

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

I have found it to be the most serious objection to coarse labors long continued, that they compelled me to eat and drink coarsely also.

What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.

Act, if you like, but you do it at your peril. Men’s actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted and who has not been the victim and slave of his action.

Thought makes every thing fit for use.

It is a time when one’s spirit is subdued and sad, one knows not why; when the past seems a storm-swept desolation, life a vanity and a burden, and the future but a way to death.

Today is a king in disguise.

When the eye is not set on one leaf and you face the tree with nothing in mind, any number of leaves are visible to the eye.

There was never a century nor a country that was short of experts who knew the Deity’s mind and were willing to reveal it.

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

There is no thought in any mind, but it quickly tends to convert itself into power.

Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.

God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, politics or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies. Broadly speaking, there are none but corn-pone opinions. And broadly speaking, Corn-Pone stands for Self-Approval. Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people. The result is Conformity.

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

If you employed study, thinking, and planning time daily, you could develop and use the power that can change the course of your destiny.

Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee.

In every great time there is some one idea at work which is more powerful than any other, and which shapes the events of the time and determines their ultimate issues.