3,409 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Eastward I go only by force, but westward I go free.

A man is rich in proportion to the things he can afford to let alone.

Be not simply good; be good for something.

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have even lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor.

The is one consolation in being sick; and that is the possibility that you may recover to a better state than you were ever in before.

Every blade in the field, every leaf in the forest, lays down its life in its season as beautifully as it was taken up.

Nothing makes the earth so spacious as to have friends at a distance.

Any fool can make a rule / And any fool will mind it.

To some extent, mythology is only the most ancient history and biography. So far from being false or fabulous in common sense, it contains only enduring and essential truth, the I and you, the here and there, the now and then, being omitted. Either time or rare wisdom writes it.