Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

I believe that men are generally still a little afraid of the dark, though the witches are all hung, and Christianity and candles have been introduced. 

Do not be too moral.  You may cheat yourself out of much life so.  Aim above morality.  Be not simply good; be good for something.  All fables, indeed, have their morals; but the innocent enjoy the story.  Let nothing come between you and the light.

Every day a new picture is painted and framed, held up for half an hour, in such lights as the Great Artist chooses, and then withdrawn, and the curtain falls.  And then the sun goes down, and long the afterglow gives light.

We discover a new world every time we see the earth again after it has been covered for a season with snow.

Each new year is a surprise to us.  We find that we had virtually forgotten the note of each bird, and when we hear it again, it is remembered like a dream, reminding us of a previous state of existence.  How happens it that the associations it awakens are always pleasing, never saddening, reminiscences of our sanest hours.  The voice of nature is always encouraging.

Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government

What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.

Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.

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.