Quote

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.

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
Rocks
Strongest
Succeed
Till
Wind
Breath
Purpose
Breaths
Spirit
Determination
Stagger
Cannot
Material
Succeeds
Character
Rock
Split
Men
Materials
Splits

More quotes by Henry David Thoreau

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Everyone must believe in something. I believe I'll go canoeing.
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The church is a sort of hospital for men's souls, and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies. Those who are taken into it live like pensioners in their Retreat or Sailors' Snug Harbor, where you may see a row of religious cripples sitting outside in sunny weather.
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Books are for the most part willfully and hastily written, as parts of a system to supply a want real or imagined.
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I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual. It is surprising how contented one can be with nothing definite - only a sense of existence. Well, anything for variety.
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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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Things don't change. We change.
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As for the tenets of the Brahmans, we are not so much concerned to know what doctrines they held, as that they were held by any. We can tolerate all philosophies.... It is the attitude of these men, more than any communication which they make, that attracts us.
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Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towardsrecognizing and organizing the rights of man?
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I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.
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The great poem must have the stamp of greatness as well as its essence.
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The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.
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At the extreme north, the voyagers are obliged to dance and act plays for employment.
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When the State wishes to endow an academy or university, it grants it a tract of forest land: one saw represents an academy, a gang, a university.
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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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It is a relief to read some true book, wherein all are equally dead,--equally alive. I think the best parts of Shakespeare would only be enhanced by the most thrilling and affecting events. I have found it so. And so much the more, as they are not intended for consolation.
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Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.
Henry David Thoreau
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Verily, chemistry is not a splitting of hairs when you have got half a dozen raw Irishmen in the laboratory.
Henry David Thoreau
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Let your condiments be in the condition of your senses.
Henry David Thoreau
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Though my life is low, if my spirit looks upward habitually at an elevated angle, it is as if it were redeemed. When the desire to be better than we are is really sincere we are instantly elevated, and so far better already.
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My facts shall be falsehoods to the common sense. I would so state facts that they shall be significant, shall be myths or mythologic. Facts which the mind perceived, thoughts which the body thought - with these I deal.
Henry David Thoreau