Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American philosopher, naturalist, and writer. He advocated for simplicity, self-reliance, and a deep connection with nature. Through his book “Walden” and essays like “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau inspired generations with his ideas on individualism, environmentalism, and the pursuit of a meaningful life.
“There is no remedy for love but to love more.”
Henry David Thoreau Quotes
“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
“Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.”
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”
“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.”
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
“The language of friendship is not words but meanings.”
“Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.”
“Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so.”
“Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.”
“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.”
“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.”
“To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates.”
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
“I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”
“I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.”
“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when someone asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.”
“I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains.”
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
“The question is not what you look at, but what you see.”
“To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”
“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.”
“The only people who ever get anyplace interesting are the people who get lost.”
“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”
“It’s not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?”
“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.”
“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”
“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”
“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.”
“Things do not change; we change.”
“The world is but a canvas to our imaginations.”
“The universe is wider than our views of it.”
“What is once well done is done forever.”
“Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”
“Live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of each.”
“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
“It’s not until we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.”
“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.”
“If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.”
“I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.”
“The only way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard.”
“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”
“Simplify, simplify, simplify!”
“The true harvest of my life is intangible – a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched.”
“One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something.”
“We are constantly invited to be who we are.”
