Quotessence
Home / Books / Life Without Principle

Life Without Principle

Book by Henry David Thoreau · 1 quotes · Work, Labor, Brain

Filter quotes by topic

AllWorkLaborBrainBusinessBustleCapitalismGoldGossipIncomeIndustriousnessIntellectLeisureLifeMeaningMindMoneyOccupationsSufferingThinkingThoughts

Life Without Principle Quotes

“By all kinds of traps and sign-boards, threatening the extreme penalty of the divine law, exclude such trespassers from the only ground which can be sacred to you. It is so hard to forget what it is worse than useless to remember! If I am to be a thoroughfare, I prefer that it be of the mountain-brooks, the Parnassian streams, and not the town-sewers. There is inspiration, that gossip which comes to the ear of the attentive mind from the courts of heaven. There is the profane and stale revelation of the bar-room and the police court. The same ear is fitted to receive both communications. Only the character of the hearer determines to which it shall be open, and to which closed. I believe that the mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things, so that all our thoughts shall be tinged with triviality. Our very intellect shall be macadamized, as it were,--its foundation broken into fragments for the wheels of travel to roll over; and if you would know what will make for the most durable pavement, surpassing rolled stones, spruce blocks, and asphaltum, you have only to look into some of our minds which have been subjected to this treatment so long.”

ThinkingMindBrainThoughtsIntellectMeaningGossipTrivia
Book:Life Without Principle
Create image