Quote

This world is a place of business. What an infinite bustle! I am awaked almost every night by the panting of the locomotive. It interrupts my dreams. There is no sabbath. It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work.

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
World
Business
Sabbath
Night
Leisure
Place
Glorious
Dream
Infinite
Interrupts
Nothing
Labor
Locomotive
Work
Dreams
Panting
Every
Mankind
Locomotives
Would
Almost
Bustle

More quotes by Henry David Thoreau

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I have met with but one or two persons in the course of my life who have understood the art of Walking, that is, of taking walks,-who had a genius, so to speak, for sauntering.
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Children, who play life, discern its true law and relations more clearly than men, who fail to live it worthily, but who think that they are wiser by experience, that is, by failure.
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Only the defeated and deserters go to war.
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The animal merely makes a bed, which he warms with his body, in a sheltered place but man, having discovered fire, boxes up someair in a spacious apartment, and warms that.... Thus he goes a step or two beyond instinct, and saves a little time for the fine arts.
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When a noble deed is done, who is likely to appreciate it? They who are noble themselves.
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The strongest wind cannot stagger a Spirit it is a Spirit's breath. A just man's purpose cannot be split on any Grampus or material rock, but itself will split rocks till it succeeds.
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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.
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When a man's conscience and the laws clash, it is his conscience that he must follow.
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The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.
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There is all the poetry in the world in a name. It is a poem which the mass of men hear and read. What is poetry in the common sense, but a hearing of such jingling names? I want nothing better than a good word. The name of a thing may easily be more than the thing itself to me.
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To inherit property is not to be born - it is to be still-born, rather.
Henry David Thoreau
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You ask particularly after my health. I suppose that I have not many months to live but, of course, I know nothing about it. I may add that I am enjoying existence as much as ever, and regret nothing.
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The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.
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As they say in geology, time never fails, there is always enough of it, so I may say, criticism never fails.
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One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something.
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Philosophy, certainly, is some account of truths the fragments and very insignificant parts of which man will practice in this workshop truths infinite and in harmony with infinity, in respect to which the very objects and ends of the so-called practical philosopher will be mere propositions, like the rest.
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Can we not do without the society of our gossip a little while, - have our own thoughts to cheer us?
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If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.
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Music never stops it is only the listening that is intermittent.
Henry David Thoreau
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A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book.
Henry David Thoreau