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I also have in mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters.

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
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Terribly
Mind
Wealthy
Silver
Dross
Golden
Impoverished
Thus
Fetters
Gold
Accumulated
Class
Forged
Use
Seemingly

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There must be some nerve and heroism in our love, as of a winter morning.
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Did ever a man try heroism, magnanimity, truth, sincerity, and find that there was no advantage in them - that it was a vain endeavor?
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Perfect sincerity and transparency make a great part of beauty, as in dewdrops, lakes, and diamonds.
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Many college text-books, which were a weariness and stumbling-block when I studied, I have since read a little with pleasure and profit.
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I see less difference between a city and a swamp than formerly.
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Impulse is, after all, the best linguist its logic, if not conformable to Aristotle, cannot fail to be most convincing.
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The great art of life is how to turn the surplus life of the soul into life for the body.
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I never was so rapid in my virtue but my vice kept up with me.
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So far as my experience goes, travelers generally exaggerate the difficulties of the way. Like most evil, the difficulty is imaginary for what's the hurry?
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Men have become the tools of their tools.
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I think we may safely trust a good deal more than we do.
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Where there is a lull in truth an institution springs up.
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We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers.
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To meet the objections of some inveterate cavillers, I may as well state, that if I dined out occasionally, as I always had done,and I trust shall have opportunities to do again, it was frequently to the detriment of my domestic arrangements.
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Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.
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As naturally as the oak bears an acorn and the vine a gourd, man bears a poem, either spoken or done.
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Even the utmost good-will and harmony and practical kindness are not sufficient for Friendship, for Friends do not live in harmony merely, as some say, but in melody. We do not wish for Friends to feed and clothe our bodies-neighbors are kind enough for that-but to do the like office to our spirits.
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I am a good horse to travel, but not from choice a roadster. The landscape-painter uses the figures of men to mark a road. He would not make that use of my figure.
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