Henry David Thoreau Quotations: LIFE
Some men endeavor to live a constrained life, to subject their whole lives to their wills, as he who said he would give a sign if he were conscious after his head was cut off,—but he gave no sign. Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.—Journal, 12 March 1853
Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine lives and grows and spires, lifting its evergreen arms to the light,—to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem that its true success! But the pine is no more lumber than man is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and highest use than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and made into manure. There is a higher law affecting our relation to pines as well as to men. A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a pine than a dead human carcass is a man.—The Maine Woods
Stuff a cold and starve a cold are but two ways. They are the two practices both always in full blast. Yet you must take advice of the one school as if there was no other.—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack RiversÂ
Surely joy is the condition of life.—"Natural History of Massachusetts"
Surely one may as profitably be soaked in the juices of a swamp for one day as pick his way dry-shod over sand. Cold and damp,—are they not as rich experience as warmth and dryness?—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
Take time by the forelock. Now or never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.—Journal, 24 April 1859
Talk of mysteries!—Think of our life in nature,—daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it,—rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the solid earth! the actual world! the common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? where are we?—The Maine Woods
The art of life, of a poet's life is, not having any thing to do, to do something.—Journal, 29 April 1852
The best man's spirit makes a fearful sprite to haunt his tomb. The ghost of a priest is no better than that of a highwayman.—Journal, 23 December 1841
The best way to correct a mistake is to make it right.—Thoreau to Ralph Waldo Emerson, 24 January 1843
