60 Henry David Thoreau Quotes
Henry David Thoreau, a pioneering American writer, philosopher, and naturalist, is best known for his reflections on simple living, self-reliance, and the beauty of nature. His most famous work, Walden, captures his retreat into the woods, where he sought to live deliberately and connect with the natural world. Thoreau’s quotes offer timeless wisdom on topics like individuality, social change, and the importance of living authentically. His thoughts encourage us to question societal norms, embrace personal freedom, and find peace in the present moment. In this collection of Henry David Thoreau quotes, we delve into his profound insights that continue to inspire those seeking a more meaningful and mindful life.
Henry David Thoreau Quotes
- “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “I took a walk in the woods and came out taller than the trees.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “I make myself rich by making my wants few.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “A man thinking or working is always alone.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Morning brings back the heroic ages.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Wildness is the preservation of the world.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.” – Henry David Thoreau
Quotes by Henry David Thoreau
- “Things do not change; we change.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “It is a great art to saunter.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “The only way to tell the truth is to speak it with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “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 or far away.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.” – Henry David Thoreau
Best Henry David Thoreau Quotes
- “That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Friends… they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Think for yourself, or others will think for you without thinking of you.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this?” – Henry David Thoreau
- “In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “When we bring what is within out into the world, miracles happen.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “I think we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Enthusiasm is a supernatural serenity.” – Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau Quote
- “The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “It’s the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us. The questions is not what you look at, but what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “My greatest skill has been to want little.” – Henry David Thoreau
Famous Henry David Thoreau Quotes
- “An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Nature abhors a vacuum, and if I can only walk with sufficient carelessness, I am sure to be filled.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “All good things are wild and free.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Love must be as much a light as it is a flame.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “There is no remedy for love but to love more.” – Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational Henry David Thoreau Quote
- “I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “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
- “It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million-count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” – Henry David Thoreau
- “Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed?” – Henry David Thoreau
- “You think that I am impoverishing myself withdrawing from men, but in my solitude, I have woven for myself a silken web or chrysalis, and, nymph-like, shall ere long burst forth a more perfect creature, fitted for a higher society.” – Henry David Thoreau
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