3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

I have heard a good many pretend that they are going to die; or that they have died, for aught that I know. Nonsense! I'll defy them to do it. They have n't got life enough in them.... Only half a dozen or so have died since the world began.

The walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise, as it is called, as the sick take medicine at stated hours ... but is itself the enterprise and adventure of the day.

All fables, indeed, have their morals; but the innocent enjoy the story.

A man must find his occasions in himself, it is true. The natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his indolence.

So easy is it, though many housekeepers doubt it, to establish new and better customs in the place of the old.

Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already.

Every people have gods to suit their circumstances.

I have not read far in the statutes of this Commonwealth. It is not profitable reading. They do not always say what is true; and they do not always mean what they say.

Seeds, there are seeds enough which need only be stirred in with the soil where they lie, by an inspired voice or pen, to bear fruit of a divine flavor.