Henry David Thoreau

Explore 39 quotes by Henry David Thoreau

There is no remedy for love but to love more.

Henry David Thoreau

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Topic

Love

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Journals of Henry David Thoreau

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1839 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. Journal entry. 25 July 1839.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. The Heart of Thoreau's Journals, edited by Odell Shepard. Dover Publications, 1961.

What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.

Henry David Thoreau

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Topic

Downsides of education Education

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Journals of Henry David Thoreau

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1850 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. Journal entry. Nov. 1850.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861, edited by Damion Searls. New York Review of Books, 2009, pt. 2.

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.

Henry David Thoreau

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Topic

Seasons Man and nature Being present

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Journals of Henry David Thoreau

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1853 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. Journal entry. 23 Aug. 1853.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. The Heart of Thoreau's Journals, edited by Odell Shepard. Dover Publications, 1961.

The Indian...stands free and unconstrained in Nature, is her inhabitant and not her guest, and wears her easily and gracefully. But the civilized man has the habits of the house. His house is a prison.

Henry David Thoreau

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Topic

Native American life

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Journals of Henry David Thoreau

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1841 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. Journal entry. 26 Apr. 1841.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "April 26 [1841]." I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau, edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer. Yale University Press, 2007.

The fate of the country...does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.

Henry David Thoreau

Slavery in Massachusetts

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Topic

Citizenship

Speaker

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Slavery in Massachusetts

Medium

Speech

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Slavery in Massachusetts." Anti-Slavery Celebration. 4 July 1854, Framingham, MA, USA. Lecture.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Slavery in Massachusetts." Essays on Civil Disobedience, edited by Bob Blaisdell. Dover Publications, 2016.

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Prejudice and bias Changing oneself Personal growth

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

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Personal growth Self-improvement

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.

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Attachment (Buddhism) Wealth Materialism

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.

That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.

Henry David Thoreau

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Topic

Simple living

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Journals of Henry David Thoreau

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1856 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. Journal entry. 11 Mar. 1856.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "March 11 [1856]." I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau, edited by Jeffrey S. Cramer. Yale University Press, 2007.

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Materialism Possessions

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 heartily accept the motto,—"That government is best which governs least";... Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe,—"That government is best which governs not at all."

Henry David Thoreau

The Relation of the Individual to the State

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Topic

Anarchism Limited government Political theory

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

The Relation of the Individual to the State

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry. "The Relation of the Individual to the State." 26 Jan. 1848, Concord Lyceum, Concord, MA, USA.

Current Citation

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

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison... The only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor.

Henry David Thoreau

The Relation of the Individual to the State

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Topic

Injustice

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

The Relation of the Individual to the State

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry. "The Relation of the Individual to the State." 26 Jan. 1848, Concord Lyceum, Concord, MA, USA.

Current Citation

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

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, not even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live accordingly to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Philosophy

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.

A sentence should read as if its author, had he held a plough instead of a pen, could have drawn a furrow deep and straight to the end.

Henry David Thoreau

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Topic

Good writing Writing

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

Genre

Travel writing

Statement Type

Metaphor, analogy and simile

Language

English

Time

1849 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. Boston/Cambridge: James Munroe and Co., 1849.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, edited by Carl F. Hovde and William L. Howarth, and Elizabeth Hall Witherell. Princeton University Press, 2004.

I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows.

Henry David Thoreau

Walking (Thoreau)

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Topic

Nature

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.

I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute Freedom and Wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil,—to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society.

Henry David Thoreau

Walking (Thoreau)

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Topic

Nature Wilderness Civilization Human 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.

Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it come to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.

Henry David Thoreau

More information about this quote

Topic

Regrets Sadness

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Journals of Henry David Thoreau

Medium

Personal journal

Language

English

Time

1839 1830s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. Journal entry. 22 Nov. 1839.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. The Heart of Thoreau's Journals, edited by Odell Shepard. Dover Publications, 1961.

Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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Topic

Being oneself Self-acceptance

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.

All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.

Henry David Thoreau

The Relation of the Individual to the State

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Topic

Revolution Oppression Resisting authority Political theory Politics

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

The Relation of the Individual to the State

Medium

Essay

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1848 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry. "The Relation of the Individual to the State." 26 Jan. 1848, Concord Lyceum, Concord, MA, USA.

Current Citation

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