Henry David Thoreau

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? You may say the wisest thing you can, old man, you who have lived seventy years, not without honor of a kind, I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that.

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

I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well.

Nowadays the host does not admit you to his hearth, but has got the mason to build one for yourself somewhere in his alley, and hospitality is the art of keeping you at the greatest distance.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

Sure I am of this, that you have only to endure to conquer. You have only to persevere to save yourselves.

Guilt, regret, resentment, sadness and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past and not enough presence.

Every man supposes himself not to be fully understood or appreciated.

If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.

Don’t be a hard rock when you really are a gem!

She was no longer wrestling with the grief, but could sit down with it as a lasting companion and make it a sharer in her thoughts.

Whosoever is delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or a god.

Don’t part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live.

The only sin that we never forgive in each other is a difference in opinion.

I refused to attend his funeral. But I wrote a very nice letter explaining that I approved of it.

We’re so infatuated with studying labels that we forget to read between the lines of one another.

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.

There is still vitality under the winter snow, even though to the casual eye it seems to be dead.

The amount of people in this world who are here to do something great far outweighs the rest.

To say that a man is your Friend, means commonly no more than this, that he is not your enemy. Most contemplate only what would be the accidental and trifling advantages of Friendship, as that the Friend can assist in time of need by his substance, or his influence, or his counsel. Even the utmost goodwill and harmony and practical kindness are not sufficient for Friendship, for Friends do not live in harmony merely, as some say, but in melody.