Henry David Thoreau citations

Page 10

“Lisez d'abord les meilleurs livres, ou vous n'aurez peut-être jamais l'occasion de les lire.”

“Ce ne sont pas les choses qui changent ; c'est nous qui changeons.”

“Comme si vous pouviez tuer le temps sans nuire à l'éternité.”

“Je n’entends pas écrire une ode à la dépression mais chanter victoire aussi vigoureusement que Chanteclerc au matin, debout sur son perchoir, quand ce ne serait que pour réveiller mes voisins.”

“Les gens qui, tout en désapprouvant le caractère et les mesures d’un gouvernement, lui concèdent leur obéissance et leur appui sont sans conteste ses partisans les plus zélés et par là, fréquemment, l’obstacle le plus sérieux aux réformes.”

“La masse des hommes sert l'État de la sorte, pas en tant qu'hommes, mais comme des machines, avec leurs corps. Ils forment l'armée de métier, ainsi que la milice, les geôliers, policiers, posse comitatus, etc. Dans la plupart des cas, il n'existe aucun libre exercice du jugement ou du sens moral; mais ils se mettent au niveau du bois, de la terre et des pierres; et l'on pourrait réaliser des hommes de bois qui rempliraient aussi bien cette fonction.”

“Quelle flamme pourrait égaler le rayon de soleil d’un jour d’hiver?”

“En tuant le temps on blesse l’éternité.”

“Celui qui ne résiste pas ne sera jamais vaincu.”

“Le citoyen doit-il un seul instant, dans quelque mesure que ce soit, abandonner sa conscience au législateur?
(LA DÉSOBÉISSANCE CIVILE)”

“Le gouvernement le meilleur est celui qui gouverne le moins”

“la raison pratique pour laquelle, une fois le pouvoir échu aux mains du peuple, une majorité reçoit la permission de régner, et continue de la détenir pour une longue période, ce n'est pas parce qu'elle court plus de risques d'avoir raison, ni parce que cela semble plus juste à la majorité, mais parce qu'elle est physiquement la plus forte.”

“Les détails nous empoisonnent la vie. Simplifiez, simplifiez.”

“Ce qu'un homme pense de lui-même, voilà ce qui règle ou plutôt indique son destin.”

“si elle (la loi) est d'une telle nature qu'elle fasse de vous l'agent de l'injustice vis-à-vis d'autrui alors je déclare qu'il faut enfreindre la loi”

“La seule obligation que j'aie le droit d'adopter, c'est d'agir à tout moment selon ce qui me paraît juste.”

“Le meilleur gouvernement est celui qui ne gouverne pas du tout; et quand les hommes y seront prêts, tel sera le genres de gouvernement qu'ils auront. Un gouvernement, au mieux, n'est qu'un expédient; mais la plupart d'entre eux sont d'habitude, et tous les gouvernements sont quelquefois nuisibles.”

“Je possède ainsi une maison recouverte étroitement de bardeaux et de plâtre, de dix pieds de large sur quinze de long, aux jambages de huit pieds, pourvue d'un grenier et d'un appentis, d'une grande fenêtre de chaque côté, de deux trappes, d'une porte à l'extrémité, et d'une cheminée de briques en face.”

“Il y avait suffisante pâture pour mon imagination. Le plateau bas de chênes arbrisseaux jusqu'où s'élevait la rive opposée de l'étang, s'étendait vers les prairies de l'Ouest et les steppes de la Tartarie, offrant place ample à toutes les familles d'hommes vagabondes.”

“Un lac est le trait le plus beau et le plus expressif du paysage. C'est l'œil de la terre, où le spectateur, en y plongeant le sien, sonde la profondeur de sa propre nature.”

“En général, les hommes, sous un gouvernement comme le nôtre, croient de leur devoir d’attendre que la majorité se soit rendue à leurs raisons. Ils croient que s’ils résistaient, le remède serait pire que le mal; mais si le remède se révèle pire que le mal, c’est bien la faute du gouvernement. C’est lui le responsable.”

“Ainsi, sous le nom d’Ordre et de Gouvernement Civique, nous sommes tous amenés à rendre hommage et allégeance à notre propre médiocrité. On rougit d’abord de son crime et puis on s’y habitue; et le voilà qui d’immoral devient amoral et non sans usage dans la vie que nous nous sommes fabriquée.”

“On doit vivre en soi, ne dépendre que de soi, et, toujours à pied d’œuvre et prêt à repartir, ne pas s’encombrer de multiples affaires.”

“Jamais il n’y aura d’État vraiment libre et éclairé, tant que l’État n’en viendra pas à reconnaître à l’individu un pouvoir supérieur et indépendant d’où découlerait tout le pouvoir et l’autorité d’un gouvernement prêt à traiter l’individu en conséquence.”

“La vie est trop courte pour qu'on soit pressé.”

“Tous les hommes reconnaissent le droit à la révolution, c’est-à-dire le droit de refuser fidélité et allégeance au gouvernement et le droit de lui résister quand sa tyrannie ou son incapacité sont notoires et intolérables.”

“Si vous voulez convaincre un homme qu'il agit mal, agissez bien. Mais ne vous souciez pas de le convaincre. Les hommes croient ce qu'ils voient. Alors, donnez-leur à voir.”

“Il est plus désirable de cultiver le respect du bien que le respect de la loi. Nous devons être d'abord des hommes et ensuite seulement des sujets”

“Nous aimons l’éloquence pour l’éloquence et non pour la vérité qu’elle peut énoncer ou l’héroïsme qu’elle peut inspirer.”

“While there are manners and compliments we do not meet, we do not teach one another the lessons of honesty and sincerity that the brutes do, or of steadiness and solidity that the rocks do. The fault is commonly mutual, however; for we do not habitually demand any more of each other.”

“Here while I lie beneath this walnut bough,
What care I for the Greeks or for Troy town,
If juster battles are enacted now
Between the ants upon this hummock's crown?”

“Men rush to California and Australia as if the true gold were to be found in that direction; but that is to go to the very opposite extreme to where it lies. They go prospecting farther and farther away from the true lead, and are most unfortunate when they think themselves most successful.”

“That virtue we appreciate is as much ours as another's. We see so much only as we possess.”

“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.”

“The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual.”

“Some old poet's grand imagination is imposed on us as adamantine everlasting truth, and God's own word! Pythagoras says, truly enough, "A true assertion respecting God, is an assertion of God"; but we may well doubt if there is any example of this in literature.”

“Man flows at once to God when the channel of purity is open.”

“The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time.”

“Perhaps I am more than usually jealous with respect to my freedom. I feel that my connection with and obligation to society are still very slight and transient. Those slight labors which afford me a livelihood, and by which it is allowed that I am to some extent serviceable to my contemporaries, are as yet commonly a pleasure to me, and I am not often reminded that they are a necessity. So far I am successful. But I foresee, that, if my wants should be much increased, the labor required to supply them would become a drudgery. If I should sell both my forenoons and afternoons to society, as most appear to do, I am sure, that, for me, there would be nothing left worth living for. I trust that I shall never thus sell my birthright for a mess of pottage.”

“The rush to California, for instance, and the attitude, not merely of merchants, but of philosophers and prophets, so called, in relation to it, reflect the greatest disgrace on mankind. That so many are ready to live by luck, and so get the means of commanding the labor of others less lucky, without contributing any value to society!”

“None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty.”

“I take it for granted, when I am invited to lecture anywhere, — for I have had a little experience in that business, — that there is a desire to hear what I think on some subject, though I may be the greatest fool in the country, — and not that I should say pleasant things merely, or such as the audience will assent to; and I resolve, accordingly, that I will give them a strong dose of myself. They have sent for me, and engaged to pay for me, and I am determined that they shall have me, though I bore them beyond all precedent.”

“Truths and roses have thorns about them.”

“A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve the State with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated by it as enemies.”

“Friends — They are like air bubbles on water, hastening to flow together. History tells of Orestes and Pylades, Damon and Pythias, but why should not we put to shame those old reserved worthies by a community of such? Constantly, as it were through a remote skylight, I have glimpses of a serene friendship-land, and know the better why brooks murmur and violets grow. This conjunction of souls, like waves which met and break, subsides also backward over things, and gives all a fresh aspect. I would live henceforth with some gentle soul such a life as may be conceived, double for variety, single for harmony — two, only that we might admire at our oneness — one, because indivisible. Such community to be a pledge of holy living. How could aught unworthy be admitted into our society? To listen with one ear to each summer sound, to behold with one eye each summer scene, our visual rays so to meet and mingle with the object as to be one bent and doubled; with two tongues to be wearied, and thought to spring ceaselessly from a double fountain.”

“We may well be ashamed to tell what things we have read or heard in our day. I do not know why my news should be so trivial, — considering what one's dreams and expectations are, why the developments should be so paltry. The news we hear, for the most part, is not news to our genius. It is the stalest repetition.”

“A poem is one undivided unimpeded expression fallen ripe into literature, and it is undividedly and unimpededly received by those for whom it was matured.”

“Every poet has trembled on the verge of science.”

“Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him.”

“Even the death of Friends will inspire us as much as their lives. They will leave consolation to the mourners, as the rich leave money to defray the expenses of their funerals, and their memories will be incrusted over with sublime and pleasing thoughts, as monuments of other men are overgrown with moss; for our Friends have no place in the graveyard.”

“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.”

“One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors. To dwell long upon them is to add to the offense. Repentance and sorrow can only be displaced by something better, which is as free and original as if they had not been.”

“The commonest and cheapest sounds, as the barking of a dog, produce the same effect on fresh and healthy ears that the rarest music does. It depends on your appetite for sound. Just as a crust is sweeter to a healthy appetite than confectionery to a pampered or diseased one.”

“Most men would feel insulted, if it were proposed to employ them in throwing stones over a wall, and then in throwing them back, merely that they might earn their wages. But many are no more worthily employed now.”

“We are as much as we see. Faith is sight and knowledge. The hands only serve the eyes.”

“Who could believe in prophecies of Daniel or of Miller that the world would end this summer, while one milkweed with faith matured its seeds?”

“Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf
Than that I may not disappoint myself,
That in my action I may soar as high
As I can now discern with this clear eye.”

“For eighteen hundred years, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it sheds on the science of legislation?”