Henry David Thoreau

Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.

Be it life or death, we crave only reality.

I was not designed to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.

I have a room all to myself; it is nature.

As to conforming outwardly and living your own life inwardly, I do not think much of that.

I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe — "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.

A man can suffocate on courtesy.

You boast of spending a tenth part of your income in charity; may be you should spend the nine tenths so, and done with it.

A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself. It may be translated into every language, and not only be read but actually breathed from all human lips; -- not be represented on canvas or in marble only, but be carved out of the breath of life itself.

No man ever followed his genius till it misled him.

The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.

We hear and apprehend only what we already half know.

So thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change. This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre. All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant.

I was more independent than any farmer in Concord, for I was not anchored to a house or farm, but could follow the bent of my genius, which is a very crooked one, every moment.

The Artist is he who detects and applies the law from observation of the works of Genius, whether of man or Nature. The Artisan is he who merely applies the rules which others have detected.

If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?

The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.

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.

There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted.

Is the babe young? When I behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man.

It is too late to be studying Hebrew; it is more important to understand even the slang of today.