Henry David Thoreau

The government of the world I live in was not framed, like that of Britain, in after-dinner conversations over the wine.

Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm

There is no remedy for love, but to love more.

The highest law gives a thing to him who can use it.

Experience is in the fingers and head. The heart is inexperienced.

Wise men are not wise at all hours, and will speak five times from their taste or their humor, to once from their reason.

Once we recognize that all things are impermanent, we have no problem enjoying them.

Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things.

He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.

I have lived eighty years of life and know nothing for it, but to be resigned and tell myself that flies are born to be eaten by spiders and man to be devoured by sorrow.

The egoism which enters into our theories does not affect their sincerity; rather, the more our egoism is satisfied, the more robust is our belief.

Do that which is assigned to you and you cannot hope too much or dare too much.

The soul of God is poured into the world through the thoughts of men.

In your Salvation shelter I saw poverty, misery, cold and hunger. You gave them bread and treacle and dreams of heaven. I give from thirty shillings a week to twelve thousand a year. They find their own dreams; but I look after the drainage.

Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned.

If a man can write a better book, preach a better sermon, or make a better mousetrap, than his neighbor, though he build his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door.

Not to be provok’d is best: But if mov’d, never correct till the Fume is spent; For every Stroke our Fury strikes, is sure to hit our selves at last.

Revolutions are always verbose.

Finish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two. This you cannot do without temperance.

It requires nothing less than a chivalric feeling to sustain a conversation with a lady.