3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

How many fine thoughts has every man had! How few fine thoughts are expressed!

It is not so important that many should be good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump.

Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other.

Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured and far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple tree or an oak.

Nothing can be more useful to you than a determination not to be hurried.

Can we not do without the society of our gossip a little while, - have our own thoughts to cheer us?

While the Governor, and the Mayor, and countless officers of the Commonwealth are at large, the champions of liberty are imprisoned.

Take Time by the forelock. It is also the safest part to take a serpent by.

I have made a very rude translation of the Seven against Thebes, and Pindar too I have looked at, and wish he was better worth translating. I believe even the best things are not equal to their fame. Perhaps it would be better to translate fame itself,--or is not that what the poets themselves do? However, I have not done with Pindar yet.