Henry David Thoreau was a man who contributed majorly to the American literary and philosophical movement known as New England transcendentalism. He was famous for his works that throw light on the simplicity of nature and the conduct of life. Here are the best Henry David Thoreau quotes about life, love, nature, success, and more that will inspire you to live a purposeful life in harmony with the natural world.
Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and transcendentalist philosopher best known for his book Walden, a reflection of his two-year experiment in simple living in natural surroundings around the woods.
His essay on ‘Civil Disobedience’, an argument for disobedience to an unjust state caught the attention of people.
His advocacy for civil liberties in the essay influenced notable figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Leo Tolstoy, and Martin Luther King Jr. in their struggles for social justice.
Thoreau believed in living a meaningful and thoughtful life rather than getting caught up in material things. His thoughts changed the outlook of many people on life and nature.
Through books, articles, essays, journals, and poetry he inspired people to seek a life of purpose, to connect with nature, and to question the values and priorities of society.
He is regarded as one of the foremost American writers, and his work inspired many leaders and influenced the American Civil Rights Movement.
Delve into the world of Henry David Thoreau quotes about confidence, solitude, and happiness that will change your perspective to look at things and inspire you to work towards your dreams.
Top 1o Henry David Thoreau Quotes
- “Not all who wander are lost.” — Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau Quotes - “Life in us is like the water in a river.” — Henry David Thoreau
Quotes Of Henry David Thoreau - “Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.” — Henry David Thoreau
Quotes By Henry David Thoreau - “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.” — Henry David Thoreau
Quotes From Henry David Thoreau - “The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden
Henry David Thoreau Walden Quotes - “Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” — Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau Famous Quotes - “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” — Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau Quotes About Life - “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.” — Henry David Thoreau
Best Henry David Thoreau Quotes - “Life isn’t about finding yourself; it’s about creating yourself. So live the life you imagined.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.” — Henry David Thoreau
Famous Quotes From Henry David Thoreau
- “All good things are wild and free.” — Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau Quotes On Nature - “Men are born to succeed, not to fail.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “That government is best which governs least.” — Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau Civil Disobedience Quotes - “Goodness is the only investment that never fails.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…” — Henry David Thoreau
- “How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Be yourself- not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Only that traveling is good which reveals to me the value of home and enables me to enjoy it better.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” — Henry David Thoreau
Best Quotes By Henry David Thoreau
- “It is never too late to give up our prejudices.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Knowledge does not come to us by details, but in flashes of light from heaven.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” — Henry David Thoreau
- “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” — Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau’s Quotes On Nature
- “Things do not change; we change.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “The universe is wider than our views of it.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Morning is when I’m awake, and there is dawn in me.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our strength.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once done well is done forever.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.” — Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau Quotes On Life
- “Surely joy is the condition of life.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Truths and roses have thorns about them.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “When it is time to die, let us not discover that we never lived.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “My life has been the poem I could have writ, but I could not both live and utter it.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “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.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Most of the luxuries and many so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” — Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational Henry David Thoreau Quotes
- “This world is but canvas to our imaginations.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “We are born as innocents. We are polluted by advice.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Be resolutely and faithfully what you are; be humbly what you aspire to be.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” — Henry David Thoreau
Inspirational Henry David Thoreau Quotes
- “Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts who stood their ground.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Think for yourself, or others will think for you without thinking of you.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Friends… they cherish one another’s hopes. They are kind to one another’s dreams.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “It’s the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “You might as well think to go in pursuit of the rainbow, and embrace it on the next hill, as to embrace the whole of poetry even in thought.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are… than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “Love is no individual’s experience; and though we are imperfect mediums, it does not partake of our imperfection; though we are finite, it is infinite and eternal.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” — Henry David Thoreau
- “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” — Henry David Thoreau
More About Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts, the third child of a small businessman named John Thoreau and his wife, Cynthia Dunbar Thoreau.
Apart from being a famous writer, Thoreau also served as an abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor and historian.
His belief in empirical thinking and spiritual matters inspired others to lead a life of introspection and connected with nature. He was very adamant in questioning and inquiring the very essence of democracy.
Thoreau believed that living independently and making your own decisions was the best way to live a meaningful and fulfilled life.
He was a close friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson and considered him as his mentor.
Hopefully, these Henry David Thoreau quotes have inspired you to pursue your dreams and reach to your full potential.
Conclusion
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