Henry David Thoreau

If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth.

One may discover a new side to his most intimate friend when for the first time he hears him speak in public. He will be stranger to him as he is more familiar to the audience. The longest intimacy could not foretell how he would behave then

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.

Our manners have been corrupted by communication with the saints.

We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character.

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

Be true to your own act and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant to break the monotony of a decorous age.

Let us eat and drink neither forgetting death unduly nor remembering it. The Lord hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, etc., and the less we think about it the better.

We shall see but a little way if we require to understand what we see.

Every being is in search of truth, but small fears go on preventing you.

Good men must not obey the laws too well.

Oftentimes, it’s the way we react to change that is the thing that determines the overall experience.

The foolish are like ripples on water, For whatsoever they do is quickly effaced; But the righteous are like carvings upon stone, For their smallest act is durable.

The only reward of virtue is virtue the only way to have a friend is to be one.

Watch what you say, and whatever you say, practice it.

A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.

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

Youth gets together with their materials to build a bridge to the moon or maybe a palace on earth; then in middle age they decide to build a woodshed with them instead.

Nothing external to you has any power over you.

The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide.

Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.