poet Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

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Henry David Thoreau Quotes

  • ''The steadfast shores never once turned aside for us, but still trended as they were made; why then should we always turn aside for them?''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849), in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 1, p. 362, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    119 person liked.
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  • ''There are secret articles in our treaties with the gods, of more importance than all the rest, which the historian can never know.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849), in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 1, p. 129, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    101 person liked.
    		69 person did not like.
  • ''No tree is so wedded to the water, and harmonizes so well with still streams.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849), in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 1, p. 44, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    60 person liked.
    		50 person did not like.
  • ''The inhabitants of Canada appeared to be suffering between two fires,—the soldiery and the priesthood.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. "A Yankee in Canada" (1853), in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 5, p. 84, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    56 person liked.
    		59 person did not like.
  • ''At a tavern hereabouts the hostler greeted our horse as an old acquaintance, though he did not remember the driver.... Every man to his trade. I am not acquainted with a single horse in the world, not even the one that kicked me.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. "Chesuncook" (1858) in The Maine Woods (1864), in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 3, pp. 98-99, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    52 person liked.
    		35 person did not like.
  • ''In all perception of the truth there is a divine ecstasy, an inexpressible delirium of joy, as when a youth embraces his betrothed virgin. The ultimate delights of a true marriage are one with this.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Essay on "Chastity and Sensuality" in letter, September 1852, to Harrison Blake, in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 6, p. 208, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    8 person liked.
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  • ''I am not afraid that I shall exaggerate the value and significance of life, but that I shall not be up to the occasion which it is.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Letter, April 3, 1850, to Harrison Blake, in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 6, p. 179, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    10 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
  • ''We are all of us Apollos serving some Admetus.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Letter, January 24, 1843, to Lucy Brown, in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 6, p. 44, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    8 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
  • ''The body can feed the body only.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Letter, May 2, 1848, to Harrison Blake, in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 6, p. 164, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    7 person liked.
    		6 person did not like.
  • ''Night is certainly more novel and less profane than day.''
    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. "Night and Moonlight" (1863), in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 5, p. 323, Houghton Mifflin (1906).
    7 person liked.
    		8 person did not like.

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Best Poem of Henry David Thoreau

Nature

O Nature! I do not aspire
To be the highest in thy choir, -
To be a meteor in thy sky,
Or comet that may range on high;
Only a zephyr that may blow
Among the reeds by the river low;
Give me thy most privy place
Where to run my airy race.

In some withdrawn, unpublic mead
Let me sigh upon a reed,
Or in the woods, with leafy din,
Whisper the still evening in:
Some still work give me to do, -
Only - be it near to you!

For I'd rather be thy child
And pupil, in the forest wild,
Than be the king of men elsewhere,
And most sovereign slave of ...

Read the full of Nature

Epitaph On The World

Here lies the body of this world,
Whose soul alas to hell is hurled.
This golden youth long since was past,
Its silver manhood went as fast,
An iron age drew on at last;
'Tis vain its character to tell,
The several fates which it befell,
What year it died, when 'twill arise,
We only know that here it lies.

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