Henry David Thoreau

What is peculiar in the life of a man consists not in his obedience, but his opposition, to his instincts. In one direction or another he strives to live a supernatural life.

What sort of philosophers are we, who know absolutely nothing about the origin and destiny of cats?

If I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.

Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.

There are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are the richest.

Our necessities are few, but our wants are endless.

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.

The endearing elegance of female friendship.

A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.

I’m only a beer teetotaler, not a champagne teetotaler.

Remember, when life’s path is steep, to keep your mind even.

Our country is that spot to which our heart is bound.

What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined – to strengthen each other – to be at one with each other in silent unspeakable memories.

I feel nothing but the accursed happiness I have dreaded all my life long: the happiness that comes as life goes, the happiness of yielding and dreaming instead of resisting and doing, the sweetness of the fruit that is going rotten.

A minute of thought is greater than an hour of talk.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.

Act, if you like, but you do it at your peril. Men’s actions are too strong for them. Show me a man who has acted and who has not been the victim and slave of his action.

Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.

In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.