221 Quotes By Henry David Thoreau


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 on great

Being is the great explainer.
Henry David Thoreau on great

I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.
Henry David Thoreau on great

We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.
Henry David Thoreau on great

There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.
Henry David Thoreau on happiness

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

'Tis healthy to be sick sometimes.
Henry David Thoreau on health

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

It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.
Henry David Thoreau on history

Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.
Henry David Thoreau on imagination

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.
Henry David Thoreau on imagination

It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart it being much more sensitive.
Henry David Thoreau on imagination

Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl: it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling.
Henry David Thoreau on imagination

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.
Henry David Thoreau on intelligence

True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.
Henry David Thoreau on knowledge

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.
Henry David Thoreau on learning

It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
Henry David Thoreau on learning

Men have a respect for scholarship and learning greatly out of proportion to the use they commonly serve.
Henry David Thoreau on learning

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Henry David Thoreau on life

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 on life