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
Soon
Everlasting
Blackbirds
Along
Goodbye
Pleasantly
Face
Ice
Sorrowful
Faces
River
Perpetually
Nature
Appear
Grieve
Ever
Innocent
Melt
Right
Rivers
Serenity
Love
Sing
Grieving
Frequented

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That is mere sentimentality that lies abed by day and thinks itself white, far from the tan and callus of experience.
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I have found all things thus far, persons and inanimate matter, elements and seasons, strangely adapted to my resources.
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The most difficult thing to understand during conversation is silence.
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There is an incessant influx of novelty into the world, and yet we tolerate incredible dullness. When sometimes I am reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them - as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon.
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Generally speaking, the political news, whether domestic or foreign, might be written today for the next ten years with sufficientaccuracy. Most revolutions in society have not power to interest, still less alarm us but tell me that our rivers are drying up, or the genus pine dying out in the country, and I might attend.
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Any man knows when he is justified, and all the wits in the world cannot enlighten him on that point. The murderer always knows that he is justly punished but when a government takes the life of a man without the consent of his conscience, it is an audacious government, and is taking a step towards its own dissolution.
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Most think that they are above being supported by the town but it oftener happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which would be more disreputable.
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We discover a new world every time we see the earth again after it has been covered for a season with snow.
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No man ever stood the lower in my estimation for having a patch in his clothes: yet I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience.
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There is a slumbering subterranean fire in nature which never goes out, and which no cold can chill.
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That is a pathetic inquiry among travelers and geographers after the site of ancient Troy. It is not near where they think it is.When a thing is decayed and gone, how indistinct must be the place it occupied!
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Whatever we leave to God, God does and blesses us.
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Music is perpetual, and only the hearing is intermittent.
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The words which express our faith and piety are not definite yet they are significant and fragrant like frankincense to superior natures.
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Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances.
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I am no more lonely than a single mullein or dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or sorrel, or a horse-fly, or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Mill Brook, or a weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house.
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All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.
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If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
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Measure your health by your sympathy with morning and Spring.
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