3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

The forests are held cheap after the white pine has been culled out; and the explorers and hunters pray for rain only to clear theatmosphere of smoke.

Wherever you have planted a seed, I am prepared to expect wonders.

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

I have travelled a good deal in Concord; and everywhere, in shops, and offices, and fields, the inhabitants have appeared to me tobe doing penance in a thousand remarkable ways.... The twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in comparison with those which my neighbors have undertaken; for they were only twelve, and had an end; but I could never see that these men slew or captured any monster or finished any labor.

Resign yourself to the influence of the earth.

A Friend is one who incessantly pays us the compliment of expecting from us all the virtues, and who can appreciate them in us.

Where the citizen uses a mere sliver or board, the pioneer uses the whole trunk of a tree.

Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors.

I have never found a companion so companionable as solitude.