3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Yet, for my part, I was never unusually squeamish; I could sometimes eat a fried rat with a good relish, if it were necessary.

Books are to be distinguished by the grandeur of their topics even more than by the manner in which they are treated.

They take their pride in making their dinner cost much; I take my pride in making my dinner cost little

I knew that the wall was the main thing in Quebec, and had cost a great deal of money.... In fact, these are the only remarkable walls we have in North America, though we have a good deal of Virginia fence, it is true.

When a noble deed is done, who is likely to appreciate it? They who are noble themselves.

The whole of the day should not be daytime; there should be one hour, if not more, which the day did not bring forth.

In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.

We loiter in winter while it is already spring.

A cold and searching wind drives away all contagion, and nothing can withstand it but what has a virtue in it, and accordingly, whatever we meet with in cold and bleak places, as the tops of mountains, we respect for a sort of sturdy innocence, a Puritan toughness. All things beside seem to be called in for shelter, and what stays out must be part of the original frame of the universe, and of such valor as God himself.