Henry David Thoreau

“True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.”

“In my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morning occupations and my obligations to society.”

“If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.”

“If an injustice requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the government machine.”

“As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.”

“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.”

“In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high.”

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”

“Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!”

“Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.”

“To be awake is to be alive.”

“The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument.”

“How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.”

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

“The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”

“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.”

“Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them...”

“The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.”

“Nature puts no question and answers none which we mortals ask. She has long ago taken her resolution.”

“It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?”