Henry David Thoreau

Explore 39 quotes by Henry David Thoreau

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

The masses The human condition

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Economy Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

Our life is frittered away by detail…. Simplify, simplify.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Simple living Living well Life

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Where I Lived, And What I Lived For Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Statement Type

Advice

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Where I Lived, And What I Lived For." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Where I Lived, And What I Lived For." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Simple living Introspection Life lessons Purpose of life

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Where I Lived, And What I Lived For Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Where I Lived, And What I Lived For." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Where I Lived, And What I Lived For." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Being true to oneself Taking a different path Individual vs. the collective

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Conclusion Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Conclusion." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Conclusion." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Following your dreams Taking risks Courage Success

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Conclusion Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Conclusion." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Conclusion." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

In the long run men hit only what they aim at.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Goals

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Economy Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

Give me a wildness whose glance no civilization can endure.

Henry David Thoreau

Walking (Thoreau)

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Topic

Civilization and nature Wilderness

Speaker

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Walking (Thoreau)

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Walking." 23 Apr. 1851, Concord Lyceum, Concord, MA, USA. Lecture.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Walking." Civil Disobedience and Other Essays. Dover Publications, 1993.

Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end... We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Can vs. should

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Economy Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen. As if a town had no interest in its forests but to cut them down!

Henry David Thoreau

Life Without Principle

More information about this quote

Topic

Man and nature

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Life Without Principle The Atlantic

Medium

Essay Magazine

Language

English

Time

1862 1860s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Life Without Principle." The Atlantic, Oct. 1863.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Life Without Principle." Walden and Other Writings. Modern Library, 2000.

We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Downsides of progress

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Where I Lived, And What I Lived For Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Where I Lived, And What I Lived For." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Where I Lived, And What I Lived For." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Seeking the truth Truth

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Conclusion Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Conclusion." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Conclusion." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

As for Doing-good, that is one of the professions which are full.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Do-gooders and busybodies

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Economy Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

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

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Overcoming evil Symptoms

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Economy Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

By avarice and selfishness, and a grovelling habit, from which none of us is free, of regarding the soil as property...the landscape is deformed.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Property rights Environmental destruction

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

The Bean-Field Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "The Bean-Field." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "The Bean-Field." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

We can never have enough of nature…. We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Man and nature

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Spring Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Spring." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Spring." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Do-gooders and busybodies

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Economy Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship; three for society. When visitors came in larger and unexpected numbers there was but the third chair for them all, but they generally economized the room by standing up.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Simple living

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Visitors Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Visitors." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Visitors." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

The savage in man is never quite eradicated.

Henry David Thoreau

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of man

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Journals of Henry David Thoreau

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1859 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. Journal entry. 26 Sept. 1859.

Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Self-criticism Criticism from others

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Economy Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

In Wildness is the preservation of the World.

Henry David Thoreau

Walking (Thoreau)

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Topic

Wilderness Spending time in nature Nature

Speaker

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Walking (Thoreau)

Medium

Lecture

Language

English

Time

1851 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Walking." 23 Apr. 1851, Concord Lyceum, Concord, MA, USA. Lecture.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Walking." Civil Disobedience and Other Essays. Dover Publications, 1993.