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Henry David Thoreau Quotes - Page 12

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Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own

Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Blood, Style
1854 Walden, or Life in the Woods,'Higher Laws'.

It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.

Henry David Thoreau
Sympathy, Men, Law
Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.52, Heron Dance Press

The civilized man is a more experienced and wiser savage.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Experience, Savages
Henry David Thoreau (2012). “Walden; Or, Life in the Woods”, p.26, Courier Corporation

The scenery, when it is truly seen, reacts on the life of the seer. How to live. How to get the most of life.... How to extract its honey from the flower of the world.

Henry David Thoreau
Flower, World, Honey
Henry David Thoreau (2011). “The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861”, p.77, New York Review of Books

Genius is not a retainer to any emperor.

Henry David Thoreau
Independence, Genius, Emperor
Henry David Thoreau (2015). “Walden”, p.54, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

A man is wise with the wisdom of his time only, and ignorant with its ignorance.

Henry David Thoreau
Wise, Wisdom, Ignorance
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.109, BookBaby

It is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always.

Henry David Thoreau
Imperfection, Live By
"A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers".

If the work is high and far, You must not only aim aright, But draw the bow with all your might.

Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational, Positive, Effort
"The Portable Thoreau".

He who cuts down woods beyond a certain limit exterminates birds.

Henry David Thoreau
Cutting, Bird, Woods
David R. Foster, Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Thoreau's Country: Journey through a Transformed Landscape”, p.99, Harvard University Press

Let go of the past and live the future . . . Live the life you imagined.

Henry David Thoreau
Letting Go, Live Life, Past

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.

Henry David Thoreau
Spiritual, Money, Simplicity
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.66, BookBaby

A man may esteem himself happy when that which is his food is also his medicine.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Medicine, May
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “A Week On The Concord And Merrimack Rivers (Annotated Edition)”, p.215, Jazzybee Verlag

Duty is one and invariable; it requires no impossibilities, nor can it ever be disregarded with impunity.

Henry David Thoreau
Duty, Disregarded, Impunity
Henry David Thoreau (2017). “HENRY DAVID THOREAU - Ultimate Collection: 6 Books, 26 Essays & 60+ Poems, Including Translations. Biographies & Letters (Illustrated): Walden, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod, A Yankee in Canada, Canoeing in the Wilderness, Civil Disobedience, Slavery in Massachusetts, Life Without Principle, Excursions, Poems of Nature, Familiar Letters…”, p.1936, e-artnow

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

Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational, Life, Time
Henry David Thoreau (1995). “Walden: An Annotated Edition”, p.87, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Each new year is a surprise to us. We find that we had virtually forgotten the note of each bird, and when we hear it again, it is remembered like a dream, reminding us of a previous state of existence. How happens it that the associations it awakens are always pleasing, never saddening, reminiscences of our sanest hours. The voice of nature is always encouraging.

Henry David Thoreau
Dream, New Year, Nature
Henry David Thoreau, Odell Shepard (1961). “The Heart of Thoreau's Journals”, p.194, Courier Corporation

If the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has done, "But what shall I do?" my answer is, "If you really wish to do anything, resign your office." When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officer has resigned his office, then the revolution is accomplished.

Henry David Thoreau
Office, Wish, Done
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.294, Simon and Schuster

There is one consolation in being sick; and that is the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before.

Henry David Thoreau
Sick, May, Possibility
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.198, Jazzybee Verlag

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
Doubt, Foundation, Literature
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.137, Delphi Classics

Four things to think about. 1. Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. 2. Let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred. 3. Keep three chairs in your house. One for solitude, two for friendship, three for society. 4. To preserve your relationship to nature, make your life more moral, more pure, more innocent.

Henry David Thoreau
Life, Nature, Thinking

When I hear a grown man or woman say, "Once I had faith in men, now I have not," I am inclined to ask, "Who are you whom the world has disappointed? Have not you rather disappointed the world?"

Henry David Thoreau
Men, World, Disappointed
Henry David Thoreau, Odell Shepard (1961). “The Heart of Thoreau's Journals”, p.77, Courier Corporation

A book should contain pure discoveries, glimpses of terra firma, though by shipwrecked mariners, and not the art of navigation by those who have never been out of sight of land.

Henry David Thoreau
Art, Book, Reading
Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.68, Xist Publishing

Not till we are lost, in other words not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.

Henry David Thoreau
Self, World, Realizing
Henry David Thoreau, Laura Ross (2009). “Walden, Or, Life in the Woods: Bold-faced Ideas for Living a Truly Transcendent Life”, p.225, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

find your eternity in each moment

Henry David Thoreau
Carpe Diem, Islands, Eternity Of Life
Henry David Thoreau, Jeffrey S. Cramer (2007). “I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau”, p.395, Yale University Press

I silently smiled at my incessant good fortune.

Henry David Thoreau
Incessant, Fortune, Good Fortune
Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.176

We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.

Henry David Thoreau
Needs, Limits, Wander
1854 Walden, or Life in the Woods,'Spring'.

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