3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

If there were one who lived wholly without the use of money, the State itself would hesitate to demand it of him. But the rich man--not to make any invidious comparison--is always sold to the institution which makes him rich.... Thus his moral ground is taken from under his feet.

How long shall we sit in our porticoes practising idle and musty virtues, which any work would make impertinent? As if one were tobegin the day with long-suffering, and hire a man to hoe his potatoes; and in the afternoon go forth to practise Christian meekness and charity with goodness aforethought!

The cart before the horse is neither beautiful nor useful.

Love is no individual's experience; and though we are imperfect mediums, it does not partake of our imperfection; though we are finite, it is infinite and eternal...

Law never made men a whit more just.

That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest

Every man should stand for a force which is perfectly irresistible.

I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.

Let us make distinctions, call things by the right names