The quotations of

Henry David Thoreau

American essayist, poet, and philosopher

1817–1862

81 quotes, most often on Life & Death, Government and Money. Part of the Writers collection.

You might as well think to go in pursuit of the rainbow, and embrace it on the next hill, as to embrace the whole of poetry even in thought.
Journal (26 January 1840)
- Poetry
Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine.
Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Government
I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear.
Walden (1854), p. 104In context
- Life & Death
Poetry — No definition of poetry is adequate unless it be poetry itself.
Journal (26 January 1840)
- Poetry
Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice.
Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Justice
- Laws
Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward.
Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Government
- Morality
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.
Walden (1854), ConclusionIn context
- Character
I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living.
Life Without Principle (1863), pp. 486–7
- Time
- Work
The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war.
Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Government
- War & Peace
I believe that the mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things, so that all our thoughts shall be tinged with triviality.
Life Without Principle (1863), p. 492
- Thinking
What is called politics is comparatively something so superficial and inhuman, that, practically, I have never fairly recognized that it concerns me at all.
Life Without Principle (1863), p. 494
- Politics
All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it.
Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Morality
- Voting
The State never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength.
Civil Disobedience (1849)In context
- Government
You must get your living by loving.
Life Without Principle (1863), pp. 486–7
- Love
- Work
The bluebird carries the sky on his back.
Journal (3 April 1852)
- Animals
- Nature

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