Henry David Thoreau idézet

oldal 10

„Inkább az igazság, mint a szerelem, pénz vagy hírnév.”

„Nem azért születtem, hogy kényszerítsenek. A saját stílusom szerint lélegzem. Meglássuk, ki a legerősebb.”

„A könyvek a világ kincselt gazdagsága, valamint a nemzedékek és nemzetek megfelelő öröksége”

„Élj meg minden évszakot, amint elmúlik körülötted, lélegezd be a levegőt, idd ki italodat, ízleld a gyümölcsöt és add át magad mindezek élvezetének.”

„Amíg el nem veszünk, más szóval nem, amíg el nem veszítettük a világot, nem kezdjük el megtalálni önmagunkat, és felismerni, hogy hol vagyunk, és milyen a kapcsolataink végtelen mértéke.”

„Ne légy túl erkölcsi. Csalhatsz az életben. Célozz az erkölcsön túl. Ne légy egyszerűen jó, légy jó valamiért.”

„Nem mondhatjuk, hogy az az ember sikeres ebben az életben, aki nem teszi boldoggá egyetlen barátját sem.”

„Ha valaki magabiztosan halad álmai irányába, és arra törekszik, hogy olyan életet éljen, amilyet elképzelt, akkor a hétköznapokban váratlan sikerrel fog találkozni.”

„A legigazibb életünket akkor éljük, amikor ébren álmodunk.”

„A világ csak egy vászon a képzelet számára.”

„Mindez a világi bölcsesség valaha egy bölcs ember megalázó eretneksége volt.”

„A legnagyobb bók, amit valaha kaptam, az volt, amikor valaki megkérdezte, mit gondolok és figyelt a válaszomra.”

„Nem az számít, amit nézel, hanem amit látsz.”

„Milyen haszontalan leülni és írni, amikor még nem állt fel és élt.”

„A menny a lábunk alatt és a fejeink felett is van.”

„Azért mentem az erdőbe, mert szándékosan akartam élni ...”

„Mintha megölhetnéd az időt az örökkévalóság sérülése nélkül.”

„A dolgok nem változnak; mi változunk.”

„Ha eléggé csendben leszünk és készen fogunk állni, minden csalódásban kárpótlást találunk majd.”

„Az álmok a személyiségünk próbakövei.”

„Minden jó dolog vad és szabad.”

„Ha kastélyokat építettél a levegőben, a munkádnak nem kell elvesznie; ott vannak, ahol lenniük kell. Most tedd le az alapokat.”

„A legtöbb, amit a barátomért tehetek, hogy egyszerűen a barátja vagyok.”

„Barátok... dédelgetik egymás reményeit. Kedvesek egymás álmaihoz.”

„A barátság nyelve nem szavakból áll, hanem azoknak jelentéséből.”

„Nem az a fontos, hogy mit kapsz a céljaid elérésével, hanem az, hogy mivé válsz a céljaid elérésével.”

„De a bölcsesség jellemzője, hogy nem teszünk kétségbeesett dolgokat.”

„Három szék volt a házamban; egy a magánynak, másik a barátságnak, a harmadik pedig a társaságnak.”

„Az igazi barátság lehetővé teszi az igazi tudást. Nem függ a sötétségtől és a tudatlanságtól.”

„A tudatlanság és az ügyetlenség szeretettel jobb, mint a bölcsesség és az ügyesség nélkül.”

„Az egyetlen módja az igazság kimondásának, ha kedvesen beszélünk. Csak a szerető ember szavai lesznek meghallgatva.”

“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?”