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Henry David Thoreau Quotes about Science

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If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.

Henry David Thoreau
Nature, Science, Men
"Life Without Principle" (1863)

Who could believe in the prophecies ... that the world would end this summer, while one milkweed with faith matured its seeds.

Henry David Thoreau
Summer, Believe, Science
Michael Benjamin Berger, Henry David Thoreau (2000). “Thoreau's Late Career and The Dispersion of Seeds: The Saunterer's Synoptic Vision”, p.126, Camden House

There is more religion in men's science, than there is science in their religion.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Men, Religion
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.71, Delphi Classics

When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Technology, Gossip
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.221, Graphic Arts Books

If words were invented to conceal thought, newspapers are a great improvement of a bad invention

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Improvement, Invention

The universe is wider than our views of it.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Views, Space
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.185, Simon and Schuster

I should say that the useful results of science had accumulated, but that there had been no accumulation of knowledge, strictly speaking, for posterity; for knowledge is to be acquired only by a corresponding experience. How can we know what we are told merely? Each man can interpret another's experience only by his own.

Henry David Thoreau
Knowledge, Science, Men
"Journeys, Adventures & Life in Harmony with Nature".

Nature abhors a vacuum, and if I can only walk with sufficient carelessness I am sure to be filled.

Henry David Thoreau
Wisdom, Nature, Science
Henry David Thoreau (1960). “H. D. Thoreau, a Writer's Journal”, p.221, Courier Corporation

Almost any mode of observation will be successful at last, for what is most wanted is method.

Henry David Thoreau
Successful, Science, Lasts
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “The Illustrated "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"”, p.363, Princeton University Press

A man receives only what he is ready to receive... The phenomenon or fact that cannot in any wise be linked with the rest of what he has observed, he does not observe.

Henry David Thoreau
Wise, Science, Men

The science of Humboldt is one thing, poetry is another thing. The poet to-day, notwithstanding all the discoveries of science, and the accumulated learning of mankind, enjoys no advantage over Homer.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Discovery, Poetry
Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.405, Penguin

Every man will be a poet if he can; otherwise a philosopher or man of science. This proves the superiority of the poet.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Men, Philosopher
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Quotable Thoreau: An A to Z Glossary of Inspiring Quotations from Henry David Thoreau”, p.77, BookBaby

The process of discovery is very simple. An unwearied and systematic application of known laws to nature, causes the unknown to reveal themselves. Almost any mode of observation will be successful at last, for what is most wanted is method.

Henry David Thoreau
Success, Knowledge, Science
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.271, Delphi Classics

Even the facts of science may dust the mind by their dryness, unless they are ... rendered fertile by the dews of fresh and living truth. Knowledge does not come to us by details, but in flashes of light from heaven.

Henry David Thoreau
Knowledge, Science, Light
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.419, Simon and Schuster

Fishing has been styled 'a contemplative man's recreation,' ... and science is only a more contemplative man's recreation.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Men, Fishing

The fact which interests us most is the life of the naturalist. The purest science is still biographical. Nothing will dignify and elevate science while it is sundered so wholly from the moral life of its devotee.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Biographies, Facts
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “The Illustrated "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"”, p.362, Princeton University Press

What are the libraries of science but files of newspapers?

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Library, Newspapers
Henry David Thoreau (2000). “Walden and Other Writings: (A Modern Library E-Book)”, p.669, Modern Library

It is childish to rest in the discovery of mere coincidences, or of partial and extraneous laws.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Discovery, Law
Henry David Thoreau (2014). “The Illustrated "A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers"”, p.362, Princeton University Press

Man cannot afford to be a naturalist, to look at Nature directly, but only with the side of his eye. He must look through and beyond her.

Henry David Thoreau
Nature, Eye, Science
Henry David Thoreau, Jeffrey S. Cramer (2007). “I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau”, p.183, Yale University Press

Linnæus, setting out for Lapland, surveys his "comb" and "spare shirt," "leathern breeches" and "gauze cap to keep off gnats," with as much complacency as Bonaparte a park of artillery for the Russian campaign. The quiet bravery of the man is admirable.

Henry David Thoreau
Science, Men, Gnats
Henry David Thoreau (2015). “Excursions and Poems : The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, Volume V (of 20)”, p.98, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY

The next day the Indian told me their name for this light,--artoosoq',--and on my inquiring concerning the will-o'-the-wisp, and the like phenomena, he said that his "folks" sometimes saw fires passing along at various heights, even as high as the trees, and making a noise. I was prepared after this to hear of the most startling and unimagined phenomena, witnessed by "his folks"; they are abroad at all hours and seasons in scenes so unfrequented by white men. Nature must have made a thousand revelations to them which are still secrets to us.

Henry David Thoreau
Nature, Science, Men

He who is conversant with the supernal powers will not worship these inferior deities of the wind, waves, tide, and sunshine. Butwe would not disparage the importance of such calculations as we have described. They are truths in physics because they are true in ethics.

Henry David Thoreau
Nature, Science, Sunshine
Henry David Thoreau (2007). “My Thoughts Are Murder to the State: Thoreau's Essays on Political Philosophy”, p.140, David M Gross

The birds I heard today, which, fortunately, did not come within the scope of my science, sang as freshly as if it had been the first morning of creation.

Henry David Thoreau
Nature, Morning, Science
Henry David Thoreau (2017). “Early Spring in Massachusetts: From the Journal of Henry David Thoreau”, p.37, Library of Alexandria

The eye which can appreciate the naked and absolute beauty of a scientific truth is far more rare than that which is attracted by a moral one.

Henry David Thoreau
Appreciation, Eye, Science
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.270, Delphi Classics

There is a chasm between knowledge and ignorance which the arches of science can never span.

Henry David Thoreau
Ignorance, Knowledge, Science
Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.68, Xist Publishing

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