Henry David Thoreau

What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.

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

I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.

The knowledge of an unlearned man is living and luxuriant like a forest, but covered with mosses and lichens and for the most part inaccessible and going to waste; the knowledge of the man of science is like timber collected in yards for public works, which still supports a green sprout here and there, but even this is liable to dry rot.

A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.

The wilderness is near as well as dear to every man. Even the oldest villages are indebted to the border of wild wood which surrounds them, more than to the gardens of men. There is something indescribably inspiriting and beautiful in the aspect of the forest skirting and occasionally jutting into the midst of new towns, which, like the sand-heaps of fresh fox-burrows, have sprung up in their midst. The very uprightness of the pines and maples asserts the ancient rectitude and vigor of nature. Our lives need the relief of such a background, where the pine flourishes and the jay still screams.

I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.

All of humanity is living in a dream world, but suffering real consequences.

Rest in reason; move in passion.

What is read twice is usually remembered more than what is once written.

First and foremost, it’s going to be treat others with respect. Be polite: Manners go a long way. Try to come from a good place. And aside from that, stay focused and do the right thing.

Man is the only creature who has a nasty mind.

The glory of friendship is not in the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is in the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.

The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England.

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

Better is the enemy of good.

The desire to conquer is itself a sort of subjection.

If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find we have lost the future.

The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.