Walden
When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality.
Henry David Thoreau • Walden
Unfortunately, I am confined to this theme by the narrowness of my experience.
Henry David Thoreau • Walden
The grand necessity, then, for our bodies, is to keep warm, to keep the vital heat in us.
Henry David Thoreau • Walden
No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof.
Henry David Thoreau • Walden
It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.
Henry David Thoreau • Walden
Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are.
Henry David Thoreau • Walden
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
Henry David Thoreau • Walden
But I would say to my fellows, once for all, As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.