Quote

There were times when I could not afford to sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any work, whether of the head or hand. I love a broad margin to my life.

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
Work
Present
Love
Head
Margin
Life
Hand
Bloom
Whether
Margins
Times
Broads
Moment
Broad
Moments
Afford
Hands
Sacrifice

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Many old people receive pensions for no other reason, it seems to me, but as a compensation for having lived a long time ago.
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I am a happy camper so I guess I’m doing something right. Happiness is like a butterfly the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.
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It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.
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I am not afraid of praise, for I have practiced it on myself.
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Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.
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He may travel who can subsist on the wild fruits and game of the most cultivated country.
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He who cannot exaggerate is not qualified to utter truth.
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I have never met with a friend who furnished me sea-room. I have only tacked a few times and come to anchor - not sailed - made no voyage, carried no venture.
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Translate a book a dozen times from one language to another, and what becomes of its style? Most books would be worn out and disappear in this ordeal. The pen which wrote it is soon destroyed, but the poem survives.
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Man cannot afford to be a naturalist, to look at Nature directly, but only with the side of his eye. He must look through and beyond her.
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The body can feed the body only.
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What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary?
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The improved means to the unimproved end.
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The virtue of making two blades of grass grow where only one grew before does not begin to be superhuman.
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If Nature is our mother, then God is our father.
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