3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

A slight sound at evening lifts me up by the ears, and makes life seem inexpressibly serene and grand. It may be Uranus, or it may be in the shutter.

Those undeserved joys which come uncalled and make us more pleased than grateful are they that sing.

We do not enjoy poetry unless we know it to be poetry.

I should consider it a greater success to interest one wise and earnest soul, than a million unwise and frivolous.

You must get your living by loving, or at least half your life is a failure.

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.

Going from--toward; it is the history of every one of us.

At a certain season of our life we are accustomed to consider every spot as the possible site of a house.

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.