3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are.

Homer and Shakespeare and Milton and Marvell and Wordsworth are but the rustling of leaves and crackling of twigs in the forest, and there is not yet the sound of any bird. The Muse has never lifted up her voice to sing.

A nation may be ever so civilized and yet lack wisdom.

Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing.

It is remarkable that there are few men so well employed, so much to their minds, but that a little money or fame would commonly buy them off from their present pursuit.

I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep, I wrote in the dark

In winter we lead a more inward life. Our hearts are warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts...

Friends do not live in harmony merely, as some say, but in melody

"Hear! hear!" screamed the jay from a neighboring tree, where I had heard a tittering for some time, "winter has a concentrated and nutty kernel, if you know where to look for it."