Quotes from Henry David Thoreau

Good deeds are no less good because their object is unworthy.

By a conscious effort of the mind we can stand aloof from actions and their consequences; and all things, good and bad, go by us like a torrent.

It is impossible to give a soldier a good education without making him a deserter. His natural foe is the government that drills him.

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.

Government never furthered any enterprise but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.

All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.

I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically.

The great art of life is how to turn the surplus life of the soul into life for the body.

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.

It is a great art to saunter !

Write while the heat is in you.

I have great faith in a seed.

I have a great deal of company in the house, especially in the morning when nobody calls.

Remember that the smallest seed of faith is of more worth than the largest fruit of happiness.

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

I come to my solitary woodland walk as the homesick go home. I thus dispose of the superfluous and see things as they are, grand and beautiful.

Man is the artificer of his own happiness.

The biggest happiness is when at the end of the year you feel better than at the beginning

I am too easily contented with a slight and almost animal happiness. My happiness is a good deal like that of the woodchucks.

Those undeserved joys which come uncalled and make us more pleased than grateful are they that sing.

As for health, consider yourself well.

Heal yourselves, doctors; by God I live.

How important is a constant intercourse with nature and the contemplation of natural phenomena to the preservation of moral and intellectual health!

Nature is doing her best each moment to make us well. Why, nature is but another name for health.