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In my short experience of human life, the outward obstacles, if there were any such, have not been living men, but the institutions of the dead.

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
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birthplace of Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau
Henry D. Thoreau
Humans
Obstacles
Men
Institutions
Life
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Short
Dead
Living
Experience
Human
Outward

More quotes by Henry David Thoreau

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The sacredness, if there is any, is all in yourself and not in the place.
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We need only travel enough to give our intellects an airing.
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The highest condition of art is artlessness.
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If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.
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It is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always. The conscience really does not, and ought not to monopolizethe whole of our lives, any more than the heart or the head. It is as liable to disease as any other part.
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Men are as innocent as the morning to the unsuspicious.
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Our village life would stagnate if it were not for the unexplored forests and meadows which surround it.
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From my experience with wild apples, I can understand that there may be reason for a savage's preferring many kinds of food which the civilized man rejects. The former has the palate of an outdoor man. It takes a savage or wild taste to appreciate a wild fruit.
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The inhabitants of earth behold commonly but the dark and shadowy under side of heaven's pavement it is only when seen at a favorable angle in the horizon, morning or evening, that some faint streaks of the rich lining of the clouds are revealed.
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The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure.
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It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however, ancient, can be trusted without proof. ... Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.
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I wished only to be set down in Canada, and take one honest walk there as I might in Concord woods of an afternoon.
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There is no history of how bad became better.
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The chief want, in every state that I have been into, was a high and earnest purpose in its inhabitants.
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Even the best things are not equal to their fame.
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There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may obey. We may study the laws of matter at and for our convenience, but a successful life knows no law.
Henry David Thoreau
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A man sits as many risks as he runs.
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If we cannot sing of faith and triumph, we will sing our despair. We will be that kind of bird. There are day owls, and there arenight owls, and each is beautiful and even musical while about its business.
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All endeavour calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil.
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The Oriental philosophy approaches easily loftier themes than the modern aspires to and no wonder if it sometimes prattle about them. It only assigns their due rank respectively to Action and Contemplation, or rather does full justice to the latter. Western philosophers have not conceived of the significance of Contemplation in their sense.
Henry David Thoreau