Henry David Thoreau

Explore inspiring quotes by Henry David Thoreau, a remarkable figure whose words continue to inspire and motivate people around the world.

203

Total Quotes

Top Categories by Henry David Thoreau

Discover the themes and topics this author explores most

life

28 quotes

men

18 quotes

nature

13 quotes

love

10 quotes

good

9 quotes

truth

7 quotes

friendship

7 quotes

dreams

7 quotes

Featured Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Some of the most memorable quotes from this author

"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm."

— Henry David Thoreauage

"I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude."

— Henry David Thoreaualone

"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."

— Henry David Thoreaualone

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."

— Henry David Thoreaualone

"The man who goes alone can start today but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready."

— Henry David Thoreaualone

"There is danger that we lose sight of what our friend is absolutely, while considering what she is to us alone."

— Henry David Thoreaualone

All Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Browse all quotes from this author

"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm."

-Henry David Thoreau

ageView Quote

"I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude."

-Henry David Thoreau

aloneView Quote

"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."

-Henry David Thoreau

aloneView Quote

"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."

-Henry David Thoreau

aloneView Quote

"The man who goes alone can start today but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready."

-Henry David Thoreau

aloneView Quote

"There is danger that we lose sight of what our friend is absolutely, while considering what she is to us alone."

-Henry David Thoreau

aloneView Quote

"No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well."

-Henry David Thoreau

aloneView Quote

"They can do without architecture who have no olives nor wines in the cellar."

-Henry David Thoreau

architectureView Quote

"This world is but a canvas to our imagination."

-Henry David Thoreau

artView Quote

"The perception of beauty is a moral test."

-Henry David Thoreau

beautyView Quote

"Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!"

-Henry David Thoreau

beautyView Quote

"That government is best which governs least."

-Henry David Thoreau

bestView Quote

"Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all."

-Henry David Thoreau

bestView Quote

"I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now."

-Henry David Thoreau

bestView Quote

"The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles."

-Henry David Thoreau

bestView Quote

"It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil."

-Henry David Thoreau

bestView Quote

"Nothing goes by luck in composition. It allows of no tricks. The best you can write will be the best you are."

-Henry David Thoreau

bestView Quote

"I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business."

-Henry David Thoreau

businessView Quote

"Only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him."

-Henry David Thoreau

businessView Quote

"Things do not change we change."

-Henry David Thoreau

changeView Quote

"I have thought there was some advantage even in death, by which we mingle with the herd of common men."

-Henry David Thoreau

deathView Quote

"If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life."

-Henry David Thoreau

designView Quote

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours."

-Henry David Thoreau

dreamsView Quote

"Dreams are the touchstones of our character."

-Henry David Thoreau

dreamsView Quote

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."

-Henry David Thoreau

dreamsView Quote

"Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams."

-Henry David Thoreau

dreamsView Quote

"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

-Henry David Thoreau

dreamsView Quote

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."

-Henry David Thoreau

dreamsView Quote

"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

-Henry David Thoreau

dreamsView Quote

"Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth."

-Henry David Thoreau

environmentalView Quote

"Wealth is the ability to fully experience life."

-Henry David Thoreau

experienceView Quote

"The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness."

-Henry David Thoreau

faithView Quote

"Faith keeps many doubts in her pay. If I could not doubt, I should not believe."

-Henry David Thoreau

faithView Quote

"Faith never makes a confession."

-Henry David Thoreau

faithView Quote

"All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning."

-Henry David Thoreau

familyView Quote

"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."

-Henry David Thoreau

fearView Quote

"Be true to your work, your word, and your friend."

-Henry David Thoreau

friendshipView Quote

"The language of friendship is not words but meanings."

-Henry David Thoreau

friendshipView Quote

"The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend."

-Henry David Thoreau

friendshipView Quote

"Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams."

-Henry David Thoreau

friendshipView Quote

"True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance."

-Henry David Thoreau

friendshipView Quote

"A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend."

-Henry David Thoreau

friendshipView Quote

"I had three chairs in my house one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society."

-Henry David Thoreau

friendshipView Quote

"Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth."

-Henry David Thoreau

godView Quote

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

-Henry David Thoreau

godView Quote

"God reigns when we take a liberal view, when a liberal view is presented to us."

-Henry David Thoreau

godView Quote

"Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"Be not simply good - be good for something."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good be good for something."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"As for doing good that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"I have seen how the foundations of the world are laid, and I have not the least doubt that it will stand a good while."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"There is more of good nature than of good sense at the bottom of most marriages."

-Henry David Thoreau

goodView Quote

"That government is best which governs least."

-Henry David Thoreau

governmentView Quote

"If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law."

-Henry David Thoreau

governmentView Quote

"How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it."

-Henry David Thoreau

governmentView Quote

"Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison."

-Henry David Thoreau

governmentView Quote

"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?"

-Henry David Thoreau

greatView Quote

"Great men, unknown to their generation, have their fame among the great who have preceded them, and all true worldly fame subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars."

-Henry David Thoreau

greatView Quote

"Being is the great explainer."

-Henry David Thoreau

greatView Quote

"I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls."

-Henry David Thoreau

greatView Quote

"We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches."

-Henry David Thoreau

greatView Quote

"There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself."

-Henry David Thoreau

happinessView Quote

"The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness."

-Henry David Thoreau

happinessView Quote

"Tis healthy to be sick sometimes."

-Henry David Thoreau

healthView Quote

"What is called genius is the abundance of life and health."

-Henry David Thoreau

healthView Quote

"It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man."

-Henry David Thoreau

historyView Quote

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."

-Henry David Thoreau

imaginationView Quote

"This world is but a canvas to our imagination."

-Henry David Thoreau

imaginationView Quote

"It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart it being much more sensitive."

-Henry David Thoreau

imaginationView Quote

1 / 3

Other Authors to Explore

Explore more inspiring authors

View All Authors