Henry David Thoreau

We are always paid for our suspicion by finding what we suspect.

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

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

What is once well done is done forever.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.

It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.

A physician’s physiology has much the same relation to his power of healing as a cleric’s divinity has to his power of influencing conduct.

When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.

I always feel excited when I can do something that’s about what I believe in.

Any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the law rules, and the people are a party to those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy, or confusion.

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.

You can free yourself from aging by reinterpreting your body and by grasping the link between belief and biology.

This merriment of parsons is mighty offensive.

Lilac anemone, paper petals, turning tentatively to face a pale sun opening to reveal a lightness of being, a flash of gold, a fresh resilience, contented silence, the dawn of a new day.

I cannot pretend to feel impartial about colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.

There is always room for a person of force and they make room for many.

Worth seeing? Yes; but not worth going to see.

Begin, be bold and venture to be wise.

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.

Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter with the poor is Poverty; what is the matter with the rich is Uselessness.