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Henry David Thoreau Quotes - Page 2

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Dissent without action is consent.

Dissent without action is consent.

Henry David Thoreau
Action, Dissent, Consent

The most difficult thing to understand during conversation is silence.

Henry David Thoreau
Silence, Speech, Conversation

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

Henry David Thoreau
Freedom, Libertarian Party, Historical
Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.23, Heron Dance Press

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

Henry David Thoreau
Life, Song, Men
Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.27, Heron Dance Press

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

Henry David Thoreau
Love, Inspiring, Peace
Henry David Thoreau, Joseph O. Valentine, Thoreau Society (2001). “Thoreau on Land: Nature's Canvas”, p.79, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Thought is the sculptor who can create the person you want to be.

Henry David Thoreau
Greatness, Law Of Attraction, Goal

To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.

Henry David Thoreau
Money, Done, Idle

Kindness to children, love for children, goodness to children-- these are the only investments that never fail.

Henry David Thoreau
Children, Kindness, Failing

Maturity is when all of your mirrors turn into windows.

Henry David Thoreau
Maturity, Mirrors, Window

Staying in the house breeds a sort of insanity always. Every house is, in this sense, a hospital.

Henry David Thoreau
House, Insanity, Staying
Henry David Thoreau, Jeffrey S. Cramer (2007). “I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau”, p.299, Yale University Press

be yourself- not your idea of what you think somebody else's idea of yourself should be.

Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational, Being Yourself, Real

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
Motivational, Religious, Freedom
Civil Disobedience (1849) See Savio 1

In an unjust society the only place for a just man is prison.

Henry David Thoreau
Men, Unjust Society, Politics

City life is millions of people being lonesome together.

Henry David Thoreau
Life, Cities, People

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Henry David Thoreau
Success, Music, Forgiveness
Walden ch. 18 (1854). Frequently quoted as "marches to the tune of a different drummer."

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

Henry David Thoreau
Wisdom, Travel, Character

The soul grows by subtraction, not addition.

Henry David Thoreau
Soul, Subtraction, Grows

Beware of any profession for which you must buy new clothes.

Henry David Thoreau
Clothes, Profession, New Clothes

I am a happy camper so I guess I’m doing something right. Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

Henry David Thoreau
Happiness, Happy, Butterfly

The meeting of two eternities, the past and future....is precisely the present moment.

Henry David Thoreau
Past, Two, Live In The Moment

Let nothing come between you and the light.

Henry David Thoreau
Light
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1727, Delphi Classics

Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary.

Henry David Thoreau
Nature, Long Walks, Weather
Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.70, Heron Dance Press

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.

Henry David Thoreau
Commitment, Insperational, Carpe Diem
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 find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

Henry David Thoreau
Love, Inspirational, Loneliness
1854 Walden, or Life in the Woods,'Solitude'.

How prompt we are to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our bodies; how slow to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our souls!

Henry David Thoreau
Soul, Body, Hunger And Thirst
Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1865). “Letters to Various Persons”, p.90

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