Henry David Thoreau: Quotes about life

Henry David Thoreau was 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist. Explore interesting quotes on life.
Henry David Thoreau: 770 quotes96 likes

“Talk of mysteries! — Think of our life in nature, — daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, — rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! the actual world! the common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? where are we?”

Henry David Thoreau

The Maine Woods http://thoreau.eserver.org/mewoods.html, Ktaadn, Pt. 6 (1848)

“My life is like a stroll upon the beach,
As near the ocean's edge as I can go.”

Henry David Thoreau

The Fisher's Boy, Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900

“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.”

Henry David Thoreau

No known citation
Misattributed

“I am here to plead his cause with you. I plead not for his life, but for his character — his immortal life; and so it becomes your cause wholly, and is not his in the least. Some eighteen hundred years ago Christ was crucified; this morning, perchance, Captain Brown was hung. These are the two ends of a chain which is not without its links. He is not Old Brown any longer; he is an angel of light.”

Henry David Thoreau book A Plea for Captain John Brown

A Plea for Captain John Brown (1859)

“A slight sound at evening lifts me up by the ears, and makes life seem inexpressibly serene and grand. It may be Uranus, or it may be in the shutter.”

Henry David Thoreau

July 10-12, 1841
Journals (1838-1859)

“But now I see I was not plucked for naught,
And after in life's vase
Of glass set while I might survive,
But by a kind hand brought
Alive
To a strange place.”

Henry David Thoreau

"I am a parcel of vain strivings tied", st. 6 (1841)

“When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip. We rarely meet a man who can tell us any news which he has not read in a newspaper, or been told by his neighbor; and, for the most part, the only difference between us and our fellow is, that he has seen the newspaper, or been out to tea, and we have not. In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post-office.”

Henry David Thoreau book Life Without Principle

Life Without Principle (1863)

“Who looks in the sun will see no light else; but also he will see no shadow. Our life revolves unceasingly, but the centre is ever the same, and the wise will regard only the seasons of the soul.”

Henry David Thoreau

March 10, 1841
Journals (1838-1859)

“The life that I aspire to live
No man proposeth me—
No trade upon the street
Wears its emblazonry.”

Henry David Thoreau

“Independence”