Henry David Thoreau
Book: Walden, or, Life in the Woods
"What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate".
"To the sick the doctors wisely recommend a change of air and scenery".
"The universe is wider than our views of it."
"If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
If you'd like to explore the book in full:
Walden by Henry David Thoreau on Amazon
Book: Civil Disobedience
"Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it."
"The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right."
"It is not so important that many should be good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump."
"It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the erradication of any, even the most enormous, wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought, not to give it practically his support. If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders."
"Action from principle, the perception and the performance of right, changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary, and does not consist wholly with anything which was."
"For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be, what is once well done is done forever."
"Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects, and obtains them for him; it was certainly no great virtue to obtain it."
"You must live within yourself and depend upon yourself always tucked up and ready for a start, and not have many affairs."
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Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau on Amazon
Book: Life Without Principle
"The ways by which you may get money almost without exception lead downward. To have done anything by which you earned money merely is to have been truly idle or worse. If the laborer gets no more than the wages which his employer pays him, he is cheated, he cheats himself."
"A grain of gold will gild a great surface, but not so much as a grain of wisdom."
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Life Without Principle by Henry David Thoreau on Amazon
Book: Walking
"I belive that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconciously yield to it, will direct us alright."
"We would fain take that walk, never yet taken by us through this actual world, which is perfectly symbolical of the path which we love to travel in the interior and ideal world, and sometimes, no doubt, we find it difficult to choose our direction, because it does not yet exist distinctly in our idea."
"Life consists with Wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him. One who pressed forward incessantly and never restd from his labors, who grew fast and made infinite demands on life, would always find himself in a new country or wilderness, and surrounded by the raw material of life."
If you'd like to explore the book in full:
Walking by Henry David Thoreau on Amazon
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