Home / Authors / Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau Quotes

Author

Browse famous quotes by Henry David Thoreau.

Filter quotes by topic

All Nature Inspirational Life Solitude Reading Books Civil Disobedience Philosophy Walden Self Society Friendship Wisdom Growth Literature Living Truth Writing Gouvernement Government

Famous Henry David Thoreau Quotes

“We all have our states of fullness and of emptiness, but we overflow at different points. One overflows through the sensual outlets, another through his heart, another through his head, and another perchance only through the higher part of his head, or his poetic faculty. It depends on where each is tight and open. We can, perchance, then direct our nutriment to those organs we specially use.”

Self Passion Growth Acceptance

Book:The Journal, 1837-1861

Source: The Journal, 1837-1861

“How shall I help myself? By withdrawing into the garret, and associating with spiders and mice, determining to meet myself face to face sooner or later. Completely silent and attentive I will be this hour, and the next, and forever.”

Growth Silence Solitude Contemplation

Book:The Journal, 1837-1861

Source: The Journal, 1837-1861

“Farewell, my friends, my path inclines to this side the mountain, yours to that. We are no longer the representatives of our former selves.”

Growth Change Loss

Book:The Journal, 1837-1861

Source: The Journal, 1837-1861

“It is not that we love to be alone, but that we love to soar, and when we do soar, the company grows thinner and thinner until there is none at all. …We are not the less to aim at the summits though the multitude does not ascend them.”

Growth Enlightenment

Author:Henry David Thoreau

“Many an object is not seen, though it falls within the range of our visual ray, because it does not come within the range of our intellectual ray, i.e., we are not looking for it. So, in the largest sense, we find only the world we look for.”

Growth Perception

Book:The Journal, 1837-1861

Source: The Journal, 1837-1861

“How little that occurs to us in any way are we prepared at once to appreciate! We discriminate at first only a few features, and we need to reconsider our experience from many points of view and in various moods, to preserve the whole fruit of it.”

Growth Experience

Book:The Journal, 1837-1861

Source: The Journal, 1837-1861

“How can we expect a harvest of thought who have not had a seed-time of character?”

Character Growth Experience

Author:Henry David Thoreau

About the Author

Known for: Author
Quotes: 282

Related Topics

Nature Inspirational Life Solitude Reading Books Civil Disobedience Philosophy Walden Self Society Friendship Wisdom Growth Literature Living Truth Writing Gouvernement Government

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Walden or, Life in the WoodsRelated source material

The Journal, 1837-1861Related source material

Civil DisobedienceRelated source material

Civil Disobedience and Other EssaysRelated source material

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack RiversRelated source material

Walden and Other WritingsRelated source material

WalkingRelated source material

Life Without PrincipleRelated source material

The Quotable ThoreauRelated source material

On the Duty of Civil DisobedienceRelated source material

Similar Authors