Henry David Thoreau

Being is the great explainer.

Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without.

Is the babe young? When I behold it, it seems more venerable than the oldest man.

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.

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

Every people have gods to suit their circumstances.

I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live and could not spare any more time for that one.

There is no just and serene criticism as yet.

There is no rule more invariable than that we are paid for our suspicions by finding what we suspect.

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

Only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him.

I am sorry to think that you do not get a man's most effective criticism until you provoke him. Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness.

It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.

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

I cannot read a single word of the Hindoos without being elevated.

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

Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.

If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.

God reigns when we take a liberal view, when a liberal view is presented to us.

To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.