Henry David Thoreau

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

“Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful than Thor with his hammer. The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.”

“A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the...”

“I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.”

“The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles.”

“We are not what we are, nor do we treat or esteem each other for such, but for what we are capable of being.”

“Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long at eve....”

“As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society.”

“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 dr...”

“Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years.”

“If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.”

“I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”

“Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.”

“It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

“That man is rich whose pleasures are the cheapest.”

“Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so.”

“Make the most of your regrets; never smother your sorrow, but tend and cherish it till it comes to have a separate and integral interest. To regret deeply is to live afresh.”

“Friends... they cherish one another's hopes. They are kind to one another's dreams.”

“Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.”

“Every people have gods to suit their circumstances.”