Henry David Thoreau, (1817-1862) American author, poet, philosopher, polymath, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and transcendentalist Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [1-30] of 47 Henry David Thoreau quotesHenry David Thoreau QuotesHenry David Thoreau Next 30 quotes As for adopting the ways which the state has provided for remedying the evil, I know not of such ways. They take too much time, and a man's life will be gone.~ Henry David Thoreau Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.~ Henry David Thoreau Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.~ Henry David Thoreau I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. ~ Henry David Thoreau I was put into jail as I was going to the shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mended. When I was let out the next morning, I proceeded to finish my errand, and, having put on my mended shoe, joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient to put themselves under my conduct; and in half an hour -- for the horse was soon tackled -- was in the midst of a huckleberry field, on one of our highest hills, two miles off, and then the State was nowhere to be seen.~ Henry David Thoreau If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.~ Henry David Thoreau If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible.~ Henry David Thoreau If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.~ Henry David Thoreau Must a citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.~ Henry David Thoreau Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.~ Henry David Thoreau The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.~ Henry David Thoreau There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.~ Henry David Thoreau To be awake is to be alive.~ Henry David Thoreau When will the world learn that a million men are of no importance compared with one man?~ Henry David Thoreau There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.~ Henry David Thoreau That government is best which governs least.~ Henry David Thoreau I heartily accept the motto, that government is best which governs least ... Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe, that government is best which governs not at all; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.~ Henry David Thoreau I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.~ Henry David Thoreau If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.~ Henry David Thoreau Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.~ Henry David Thoreau That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest.~ Henry David Thoreau A gun gives you the body, not the bird.~ Henry David Thoreau Goodness is the only investment that never fails.~ Henry David Thoreau The universe seems bankrupt as soon as we begin to discuss the characters of individuals.~ Henry David Thoreau Under a government which imprisons unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.~ Henry David Thoreau Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myself with imagining a State at least which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose if a few were to live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow-men. A State which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which also I have imagined, but not yet anywhere seen.~ Henry David Thoreau Somehow strangely the vice of men gets well represented and protected but their virtue has none to plead its cause -- nor any charter of immunities and rights.~ Henry David Thoreau The fate of the country does not depend on how you vote at the polls -- the worst man is as strong as the best at that game; it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.~ Henry David Thoreau Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?~ Henry David Thoreau Others -- as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders -- serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few -- as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men -- serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part ...~ Henry David Thoreau Next 30 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print