Henry David Thoreau

“If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see.”

“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed... Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.”

“There is no just and serene criticism as yet.”

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.”

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”

“It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.”

“It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious.”

“When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.”

“How can any man be weak who dares to be at all?”

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”

“I put a piece of paper under my pillow, and when I could not sleep I wrote in the dark.”

“What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.”

“Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.”

“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life.”

“There never was and is not likely soon to be a nation of philosophers, nor am I certain it is desirable that there should be.”

“Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.”

“It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.”

“The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.”

“Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors.”

“Justice is sweet and musical; but injustice is harsh and discordant.”