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There is no such thing as accomplishing a righteous reform by the use of expediency. There is no such thing as sliding up- hill.In morals the only sliders are backsliders.

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
Thing
Morals
Hill
Righteous
Hills
Reform
Morality
Sliding
Moral
Accomplishing
Use
Expediency

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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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In some countries a hunting parson is no uncommon sight. Such a one might make a good shepherd's dog, but is far from being the Good Shepherd.
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Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary.
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Perfect sincerity and transparency make a great part of beauty, as in dewdrops, lakes, and diamonds.
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Our circumstances answer to our expectations and the demand of our natures.
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Morning glory is the best name, it always refreshes me to see it.
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You must not blame me if I do talk to the clouds.
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A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority.
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A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs. He who can pronounce my name aright, he can call me, and is entitled to my love and service.
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The chimney is to some extent an independent structure, standing on the ground, and rising through the house to the heavens evenafter the house is burned it still stands sometimes, and its importance and independence are apparent.
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If we dealt only with the false and dishonest, we should at last forget how to speak truth.
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When we come down into the distant village, visible from the mountain-top, the nobler inhabitants with whom we peopled it have departed, and left only vermin in its desolate streets. It is the imagination of poets which puts those brave speeches into the mouths of their heroes.
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What fire could ever equal the sunshine of a winter's day?
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I am no more lonely than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond itself. What company has that lonely lake,I pray?
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I have always endeavored to acquire strict business habits they are indispensable to every man. If your trade is with the Celestial Empire, then some small counting house on the coast, in some Salem harbor, will be fixture enough.
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A healthy man, indeed, is the complement of the seasons, and in winter, summer is in his heart.
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But labor of the hands, even when pursued to the verge of drudgery, is perhaps never the worst form of idleness. It has a constantand imperishable moral, and to the scholar it yields a classic result.
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A man is wise with the wisdom of his time only, and ignorant with its ignorance.
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To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.
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