Henry David Thoreau
148 quotations
The language of friendship is not words but meanings.
The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.
True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm
Water is the only drink for a wise man.
Man is the artificer of his own happiness.
Goodness is the only investment which never fails.
That government is best which governs least.
What right have I to grieve, who have not ceased to wonder?
I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.
Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.
Humility like the darkness, reveals the heavenly lights.
To have done anything just for money is to have been truly idle.
We perceive and are affected by changes too subtle to be described.
To inherit property is not to be born -- it is to be still-born, rather.
The laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day.
We need only travel enough to give our intellects an airing.
We hate the kindness which we understand.
Knowledge does not come to us in details, but in flashes of light from heaven.
It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for law, so much as a respect for right.
The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.
I say, break the law.
He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.
I have received no more than one or two letters in my life that were worth the postage.
Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.