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Henry David Thoreau Quotes about Work

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He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.

He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.

Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational, Motivational, Work
Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.83, Heron Dance Press

Men have become the tools of their tools.

Henry David Thoreau
Witty, Work, Humorous
1854 Walden, or Life in the Woods,'Economy'.

If I choose to devote myself to certain labors which yield more real profit, though but little money, they may be inclined to look on me as an idler.

Henry David Thoreau
Real, Work, Yield
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.409, Simon and Schuster

Most men would feel insulted if it were proposed to employ them in throwing stones over a wall, and then in throwing them back, merely that they might earn their wages. But many are no more worthily employed now.

Henry David Thoreau
Wall, Work, Men
Henry David Thoreau (2002). “The Essays of Henry D. Thoreau: Selected and Edited by Lewis Hyde”, p.283, North Point Press

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

Henry David Thoreau
Witty, Travel, Work
Henry David Thoreau (2016). “Walden”, p.52, Xist Publishing

I, who cannot stay in my chamber for a single day without acquiring some rust,... confess that I am astonished at the power of endurance, to say nothing of the moral insensibility, of my neighbors who confine themselves to shops and offices the whole day for weeks and months, aye, and years almost together. I know not what manner of stuff they are of,--sitting there now at three o'clock in the afternoon, as if it were three o'clock in the morning.

Henry David Thoreau
Morning, Work, Years

Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other.

Henry David Thoreau
Work, Inspiration, Soul And Body
Henry David Thoreau, Odell Shepard (1961). “The Heart of Thoreau's Journals”, p.18, Courier Corporation

The man who does not betake himself at once and desperately to sawing is called a loafer, though he may be knocking at the doors of heaven all the while.

Henry David Thoreau
Work, Men, Doors
Henry David Thoreau (1960). “H. D. Thoreau, a Writer's Journal”, p.93, Courier Corporation

The ways in which most men get their living, that is, live, are mere makeshifts, and a shirking of the real business of life,--chiefly because they do not know, but partly because they do not mean, any better.

Henry David Thoreau
Life, Real, Work
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Selected Essays of Henry David Thoreau”, p.230, Simon and Schuster

The boatmen appeared to lead an easy and contented life, and we thought that we should prefer their employment ourselves to many professions which are much more sought after. They suggested how few circumstances are necessary to the well-being and serenity of man, how indifferent all employments are, and that any may seem noble and poetic to the eyes of men, if pursued with sufficient buoyancy and freedom.

Henry David Thoreau
Freedom, Work, Eye
Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.148, Xist Publishing

This world is a place of business. What an infinite bustle! I am awaked almost every night by the panting of the locomotive. It interrupts my dreams. There is no sabbath. It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work.

Henry David Thoreau
Dream, Work, Night
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.408, Simon and Schuster

What exercise is to the body, employment is to the mind and morals.

Henry David Thoreau
Work, Exercise, Mind
Henry David Thoreau, Bob Blaisdell (2011). “Thoreau: A Book of Quotations”, p.32, Courier Corporation

Those who work much do not work hard.

Henry David Thoreau
Work, Hard Work, Hard
Henry David Thoreau (2011). “The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861”, p.26, New York Review of Books

It is not worth while to go round the world to count the cats in Zanzibar.

Henry David Thoreau
Work, Cat, Zanzibar
Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Walden”, p.208, Cosimo, Inc.

Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction - a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the muse.

Henry David Thoreau
Work, Home, Night
Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.191, Simon and Schuster

If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?

Henry David Thoreau
Work, Humble, Mean
Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.366, Penguin

The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure.

Henry David Thoreau
Success, Business, Work
Henry David Thoreau, Odell Shepard (1961). “The Heart of Thoreau's Journals”, p.31, Courier Corporation

As a preacher, I should be prompted to tell men, not so much how to get their wheat bread cheaper, as of the bread of life compared with which that is bran. Let a man only taste these loaves, and he becomes a skillful economist at once.

Henry David Thoreau
Work, Men, Bread Of Life
Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.369, Penguin

Morning work! By the blushes of Aurora and the music of Memnon, what should be man's morning work in this world?

Henry David Thoreau
Morning, Work, Men
Henry David Thoreau (2004). “Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic”, p.33, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Removing the weeds, putting fresh soil about the bean stems, and encouraging this weed which I had sown, making the yellow soil express its summer thought in bean leaves and blossoms rather than in wormwood and piper and millet grass, making the earth say beans instead of grass, - this was my daily work.

Henry David Thoreau
Summer, Weed, Work
Henry David Thoreau (2015). “Walden and Civil Disobedience”, p.113, Xist Publishing

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