Reading Henry David Thoreau

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.

The symbol of an ancient man’s thought becomes a modern man’s speech.

It is not so important that many should be as good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump.

We should live in all the ages of the world in an hour; ay, in all the worlds of the ages.

The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind.

Every child begins the world again, to some extent, and loves to stay out doors, even in wet and cold.

We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a family tomb.

The best works of art are the expression of man’s struggle to free himself from this condition, but the effect of our art is merely to make this low state comfortable and that higher state to be forgotten.

I have no doubt that time discriminates between the good and the bad; and when at last I shall plant, I shall be less likely to be disappointed.

Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.

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

Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour.

The works of the great poets have never yet been read by mankind, for only great poets can read them.

We should be as good as the worthies of antiquity, but partly by first knowing how good they were.

There were times when I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the head or hands.

A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.

A man sits as many risks as he runs.

Every man has to learn the points of compass again as often as he awakes, whether from sleep or any abstraction.

The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling.