Henry David Thoreau
United States
12 Jul 1817 // 6 May 1862
Writer / Author / Poet
12 Jul 1817 // 6 May 1862
Writer / Author / Poet
Quotes
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Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it
The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off
There is more religion in men's science, than there is science in their religion
The pleasure we feel in music springs from the obedience which is in it
The man of genius knows what he is aiming at; nobody else knows. And he alone knows when something comes between him and his object. In the course of generations, however, men will excuse you for not doing as they do, if you will bring enough to pass in your own way
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation
I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which these things would be by me unavoidable
There is no remedy for love but to love more
I have received no more than one or two letters in my life that were worth the postage
We have built for this world a family mansion, and the next a family tomb. The best works of art are the expression of man's struggle to free himself from this condition, but the effect of our art is merely to make this low state comfortable and that higher state to be forgotten
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays
Essays