Henry David Thoreau Quotes

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.
Henry David Thoreau

Yourself, Live, Find

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.
Henry David Thoreau

Environmental, God, Men

'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes.
Henry David Thoreau

Health, Sick, Sometimes

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David Thoreau

Age, Old, Enthusiasm

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?
Henry David Thoreau

Busy, Enough, Question

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.
Henry David Thoreau

Life, Positive, Mankind

As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.
Henry David Thoreau

Good, May, Strange

The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.
Henry David Thoreau

Greatest, Thought, Answer

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.
Henry David Thoreau

Morning, Eyes, Sun

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.
Henry David Thoreau

Keep, Learn, Ourselves

It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.
Henry David Thoreau

Head, Clouds, Breathe

Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.
Henry David Thoreau

Nature, Her, She

The heart is forever inexperienced.
Henry David Thoreau

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
Henry David Thoreau

Investment, Goodness, Fails

What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.
Henry David Thoreau

Motivational, Life, Health

Great men, unknown to their generation, have their fame among the great who have preceded them, and all true worldly fame subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars.
Henry David Thoreau

Great, Men, True

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.
Henry David Thoreau

Different, Why, Keep

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

Sleep, Dark, Put

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

Success, Goal, Dark

Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years.
Henry David Thoreau

Before, Equal, Thousand

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
Henry David Thoreau

Live, Down, Write

While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it was not so easy to create noblemen and kings.
Henry David Thoreau

Men, Easy, While

Men have become the tools of their tools.
Henry David Thoreau

Technology, Men, Become

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.
Henry David Thoreau

Faith, Happiness, Seed

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
Henry David Thoreau

Success, Busy, Looking

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Author

Born: July 12, 1817

Died: May 6, 1862

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Cite this Page: Citation

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