Quote

I find it, as ever, very unprofitable to have much to do with men. It is sowing the wind, but not reaping even the whirlwind onlyreaping an unprofitable calm and stagnation. Our conversation is a smooth, and civil, and never-ending speculation merely.

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
Men
Conversation
Sowing
Wind
Stagnation
Society
Speculation
Find
Smooth
Ever
Ending
Even
Civil
Reaping
Much
Calm
Unprofitable
Never
Merely
Whirlwind

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That man is richest who's pleasure are cheapest.
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Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.
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The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed.
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I fear chiefly lest my expression may not be extravagant enough, may not wander far enough beyond the narrow limit of my daily experience, so as to be adequate to the truth of which I have been convinced.
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What is religion? That which is never spoken.
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There must be some nerve and heroism in our love, as of a winter morning.
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It is dry, hazy June weather. We are more of the earth, farther from heaven these days.
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What is morality but immemorial custom? Conscience is the chief of conservatives.
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Undoubtedly, in the most brilliant successes, the first rank is always sacrificed.
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Resign yourself to the influence of the earth.
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Rise free from care before the dawn and seek adventure. Let the noon find you by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home. There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played.
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Some do not walk at all others walk in the highways a few walk across lots. Roads are made for horses and men of business. I do not travel in them much, comparatively, because I am not in a hurry to get to any tavern or grocery or livery-stable or depot to which they lead.
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Books of natural history aim commonly to be hasty schedules, or inventories of God's property, by some clerk. They do not in the least teach the divine view of nature, but the popular view, or rather the popular method of studying nature, and make haste to conduct the persevering pupil only into that dilemma where the professors always dwell.
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It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.
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In short, I am convinced, both by faith and experience, that to maintain one's self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely as the pursuits of the simpler nations are still the sports of the more artificial.
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It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.
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It is necessary not to be Christian to appreciate the beauty and significance of the life of Christ.
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What wealth is it to have such friends that we cannot think of them without elevation!
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It takes a man of genius to travel in his own country, in his native village to make any progress between his door and his gate.
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As a man thinks of himself, so he is.
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