Henry David Thoreau

When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.

For what are the classics but the noblest thoughts of man? They are the only oracles which are not decayed, and there are such answers to the most modern inquiry in them as Delphi and Dodona never gave. We might as well omit to study Nature because she is old.

We are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspected.

You know about a person who deeply interests you more than you can be told. A look, a gesture, an act, which to everybody else is insignificant tells you more about that one than words can.

As for the pyramids, there is nothing to wonder at in them so much as the fact that so many men could be found degraded enough to spend their lives constructing a tomb for some ambitious booby, whom it would have been wiser and manlier to have drowned in the Nile, and then given his body to the dogs.

We are not what we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for what we are capable of being.

Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy.

This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge keeps his wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.

Stay with me,’ he said, ‘until the sun goes out, the seas are parched, and the wind draws its last breath.

Wealth is in applications of mind to nature; and the art of getting rich consists not in industry, much less in saving, but in a better order, in timeliness, in being at the right spot.

We know there is intention and purpose in the universe, because there is intention and purpose in us.

Oftentimes, it’s the way we react to change that is the thing that determines the overall experience.

Murder in the murderer is no such ruinous thought as poets and romancers will have it; it does not unsettle him, or fright him from his ordinary notice of trifles; it is an act quite easy to be contemplated.

Laughter is the greatest weapon we have and we, as humans, use it the least.

Tear thyself from delay.

The place of justice is a hallowed place.

The nose of the bulldog has been slanted backwards so that he can breathe without letting go.

Monarchies, aristocracies, and religions are all based upon that large defect in your race – the individual’s distrust of his neighbor, and his desire, for safety’s or comfort’s sake, to stand well in his neighbor’s eye. These institutions will always remain, and always flourish, and always oppress you, affront you, and degrade you, because you will always be and remain slaves of minorities. There was never a country where the majority of the people were in their secret hearts loyal to any of these institutions.

Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.

Wherever work is done, victory is attained.

He that does good for good’s sake seeks neither paradise nor reward, but he is sure of both in the end.