Quote

Only nature has a right to grieve perpetually, for she only is innocent. Soon the ice will melt, and the blackbirds sing along the river which he frequented, as pleasantly as ever. The same everlasting serenity will appear in this face of God, and we will not be sorrowful, if he is not.

Henry David Thoreau

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Henry David Thoreau
Age: 44 †
Born: 1817
Born: July 12
Died: 1862
Died: May 6
Abolitionist
Author
Autobiographer
Diarist
Ecologist
Environmentalist
Essayist
Naturalist
Philosopher
Poet
Translator
Writer
birthplace of Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau
Henry D. Thoreau
Along
Goodbye
Pleasantly
Face
Ice
Sorrowful
Faces
River
Perpetually
Nature
Appear
Grieve
Ever
Innocent
Melt
Right
Rivers
Serenity
Love
Sing
Grieving
Frequented
Soon
Everlasting
Blackbirds

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If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth
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Nature abhors a vacuum, and if I can only walk with sufficient carelessness I am sure to be filled.
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I am struck by the fact that the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think that the same is true of human beings.
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I should say that the useful results of science had accumulated, but that there had been no accumulation of knowledge, strictly speaking, for posterity for knowledge is to be acquired only by a corresponding experience. How can we know what we are told merely? Each man can interpret another's experience only by his own.
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Surely the writer is to address a world of laborers, and such therefore must be his own discipline.
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People seldom hit what they do not aim at.
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This fond reiteration of the oldest expressions of truth by the latest posterity, content with slightly and religiously retouchingthe old material, is the most impressive proof of a common humanity.
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In winter we lead a more inward life. Our hearts are warm and cheery, like cottages under drifts.
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Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.
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One can hardly imagine a more healthful employment, or one more favorable to contemplation and the observation of nature.
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There is a patent office at the seat of government of the universe, whose managers are as much interested in the dispersion of seeds as anybody at Washington can be, and their operations are infinitely more extensive and regular.
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I have myself to respect, but to myself I am not amiable but my friend is my amiableness personified.
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On the whole, Chaucer impresses us as greater than his reputation, and not a little like Homer and Shakespeare, for he would haveheld up his head in their company.
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The most attractive sentences are not perhaps the wisest, but the surest and soundest.
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In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.
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Where is the unexplored land but in our own untried enterprises? To an adventurous spirit any place--London, New York, Worcester, or his own yard--is unexplored land, to seek which Frémont and Kane travel so far. To a sluggish and defeated spirit even the Great Basin and the Polaris are trivial places.
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I can alter my life by altering my attitude. He who would have nothing to do with thorns must never attempt to gather flowers.
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The gods cannot misunderstand, man cannot explain.
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It is remarkable that almost all speakers and writers feel it to be incumbent on them, sooner or later, to prove or acknowledge the personality of God. Some Earl of Bridgewater, thinking it better late than never, has provided for it in his will. It is a sad mistake.
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The United States have a coffle of four millions of slaves. They are determined to keep them in this condition and Massachusettsis one of the confederated overseers to prevent their escape.
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