Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862) was an American essayist, poet, and philosopher from Concord, Massachusetts. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Civil Disobedience, an argument for disobedience to an unjust state. Thoreau’s books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry amount to more than 20 volumes. Among his lasting contributions are his writings on natural history and philosophy.
Quotes by Henry David Thoreau…
I do not wish to live what is not life.
Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises?
I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simple and wisely.
There are nine hundred and ninety-nine patrons of virtue to one virtuous man.
As long as man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way, governments, society, and even the sun and moon and stars.
There are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.
Only that day dawns to which we are awake.
When, in some dreadful and ghastly dream, we reach the moment of greatest horror, it awakes us, thereby banishing all the hideous shapes that were born of the night. And life is a dream: when the moment of greatest horror compels us to break it off, the same thing happens.
The man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify.
