Henry David Thoreau, born David Henry Thoreau

I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor... To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

I believe that the mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things. Read not the times, read the eternities.

Humility, like darkness, reveals the heavenly lights.

He is a rich man... who can find delight in his own thoughts.

How few things can a man measure with the tape of his understanding! How many greater things might he be seeing in the meanwhile.

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.

He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.

Friendship is never established as an understood relation. It is a miracle which requires constant proofs. It is an exercise of the purest imagination and of the rarest faith!

Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.

For an impenetrable shield, stand inside yourself.

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be simply not good; be good for something.

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?

Associate reverently, and as much as you can, with your loftiest thoughts.

All men are partially buried in the grave of custom, and of some we see only the crown of the head above a ground.

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can do without [let alone]. Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.

All good abides with him who waiteth wisely; we shall sooner overtake the dawn by remaining here than by hurrying over the hills of the west.