Henry David Thoreau

Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing; but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.

Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.

Do what you love. Know you own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

I have never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

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.

You sold me a dream and it shattered. I didn’t know how to put it back together again. So instead, I’m lovingly gluing those fragments anew with seams of gold, creating a vibrant new dream, rendering the broken strong and more than ever, breathtakingly beautiful.

His honest, patronizing pride in the good-will and respect of everybody about him was a safeguard even against foolish romance, still more against a lower kind of folly.

People wish to be settled. It is only as far as they are unsettled that there is any hope for them.

Self-suggestion makes you master of yourself.

The real satisfaction which praise can afford, is when what is repeated aloud agrees with the whispers of conscience, by showing us that we have not endeavored to deserve well in vain.

We must beware of trying to build a society in which nobody counts for anything except a politician or an official, a society where enterprise gains no reward and thrift no privileges.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

There are truths which are not for all men, nor for all times.

This is the ultimate end of man, to find the One which is in him; which is his truth, which is his soul; the key with which he opens the gate of the spiritual life, the heavenly kingdom.

The poets aim is either to profit or to please, or to blend in one the delightful and the useful. Whatever the lesson you would convey, be brief, that your hearers may catch quickly what is said and faithfully retain it. Every superfluous word is spilled from the too-full memory.

Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.

A good conscience is a continual feast.

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.

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

I look up at the universe and ask, ‘What are you trying to teach me here?’ I know I won’t hear a reply, but asking the question, makes me begin looking for the answer.