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Henry David Thoreau1817–1862

There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live. To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.

Henry David Thoreau on philosophy

Walden (1854), Economy (1 of 3)

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Philosophy Wisdom

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More from Henry David Thoreau

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
Walden (1854), p. 364In context
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To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts; but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates.
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We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.
Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989), Author unknown; attributed to Henry David Thoreau, but not found in his works.
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More about philosophy

The unexamined life is not worth living.
Socrates470–399 BCThe Apology of Socrates (399 BC)
Love, while always forgiving of imperfections and mistakes, can never cease to will their removal.
C. S. Lewis1898–1963
Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth thrown in. Aim at Earth and you get neither.
C. S. Lewis1898–1963Mere Christianity (1952), Book III, Chapter 10, “Hope”
- Theology

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