3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Visit the Navy-Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man with its black arts, -a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments, though it may be, -"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,As his corse to the rampart were hurried;Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot,O'er the grave where our hero we buried.

The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.

Genius is not a retainer to any emperor, or is its material silver, or gold, or marble, except to a trifling extent.

It is time that we had uncommon schools, that we did not leave off our education when we begin to be men and women.

Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit comfortably on your shoulder.

Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined

They who suspect a Mephistophiles, or sneering, satirical devil, under all, have not learned the secret of true humor, which sympathizes with gods themselves, in view of their grotesque, half-finished creatures.