Quote

Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf Than that I may not disappoint myself, That in my action I may soar as high As I can now discern with this clear eye.

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
Meaner
Eye
Action
Discern
May
Disappoint
Great
Soar
Thee
Asks
High
Pelf
Clear

More quotes by Henry David Thoreau

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Compliments and flattery oftenest excite my contempt by the pretension they imply for who is he that assumes to flatter me? To compliment often implies an assumption of superiority in the complimenter. It is, in fact, a subtle detraction.
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The fire is the main comfort of the camp, whether in summer or winter, and is about as ample at one season as at another. It is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness.
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Morning brings back the heroic ages.
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Many men walk by day few walk by night. It is a different season.
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As in many countries precious metals belong to the crown, so here more precious natural objects of rare beauty should belong to the public.
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I would not have every man nor every part of a man cultivated, any more than I would have every acre of earth cultivated: part will be tillage, but the greater part will be meadow and forest, not only serving an immediate use, but preparing a mould against a distant future, by the annual decay of the vegetation which it supports.
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I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute Freedom and Wildness, as contrasted with a Freedom and Culture merely civil, - to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society.
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Morning work! By the blushes of Aurora and the music of Memnon, what should be man's morning work in this world?
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There are two classes of authors: the one write the history of their times, the other their biography.
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A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
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No man loses ever on a lower level by magnanimity on a higher.
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My desire for knowledge is intermittent but my desire to commune with the spirit of the universe, to be intoxicated with the fumes, call it, of that divine nectar, to bear my head through atmospheres and over heights unknown to my feet, is perennial and constant.
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One is wise to cultivate the tree that bears fruit in our soul.
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Even the best things are not equal to their fame.
Henry David Thoreau
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The object of love expands and grows before us to eternity, until it includes all that is lovely, and we become all that can love.
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I have seen more men than usual, lately and, well as I was acquainted with one, I am surprised to find what vulgar fellows they are.
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Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.
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To speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.
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Our thoughts are epochs in our lives all else is but as a journal of the winds that blow while we are here.
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The necessity of labor and conversation with many men and things to the scholar is rarely well remembered.
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