There never is but one opportunity of a kind..

There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it i….

I, on my side, require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's ….

When one man has reduced a fact of the imagination to be a fact to his understanding, I foresee that all men will at length establish their lives on ….

How wholesome winter is, seen far or near; how good, above all mere sentimental, warm-blooded, short-lived, soft-hearted, moral goodness, commonly so….

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately..

Men must speak English who can write Sanskrit; they must speak a modern language who write, perchance, an ancient and universal one..

The world, which the Greeks called Beauty, has been made such by being gradually divested of every ornament which was not fitted to endure..

It is a ridiculous demand which England and America make, that you shall speak so that they can understand you. Neither men nor toadstools grow so..

The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest r….

It is not enough to be a hardworking person. Equally important is the job you are working at..

There is in my nature, methinks, a singular yearning toward all wildness..

What is wanted is men of principle, who recognize a higher law than the decision of the majority. The marines and the militia whose bodies were used ….

The tavern will compare favorably with the church..

In my walks, I would fain return to my senses. What business have I in the woods if I am thinking of something out of the woods?.

The very uprightness of the pines and maples asserts the ancient rectitude and vigor of nature. Our lives need the relief of such a background, where….

I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the grea….

It is impossible to give a soldier a good education without making him a deserter. His natural foe is the government that drills him..

Where is the "unexplored land" but in our own untried enterprises? To an adventurous spirit any place--London, New York, Worcester, or his own yard--….

What avail all your scholarly accomplishments and learning, compared with wisdom and manhood? To omit his other behavior, see whata work this compara….

One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors for to dwell long upon them is to add to the offense, and repentance and sorrow can only be di….