Henry David Thoreau

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

Go fish and hunt far and wide day by day – farther and wider – and rest thee by many brooks and hearth-sides without misgiving. Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventures. Let the noon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played.

The government of the world I live in was not framed, like that of Britain, in after-dinner conversations over the wine.

Associate reverently, as much as you can, with your loftiest thoughts.

Preaching is the expression of moral sentiments applied to the duties of life.

He will be loved when dead, who was envied when he was living.

History is only the register of crimes and misfortunes.

The more you know, the less you need.

I tell you there isn’t a thing under the sun that needs to be done at all, but what a man can do better than a woman, unless it’s bearing children, and they do that in a poor make-shift way; it had better been left to the men.

Man is the only animal that laughs and has a state legislature.

They change their climate, not their soul, who rush across the sea.

If you miss the present moment, you miss your appointment with life. That is very serious!

Let us, if we must have great actions, make our own so. All action is of infinite elasticity, and the least admits of being inflated with celestial air, until it eclipses the sun and moon.

Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.

What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?

There isn’t a single human characteristic that can be safely labeled as American.

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: “O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.” And God granted it.

Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most.

Statistics show that of those who contract the habit of eating, very few survive.