“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.”

—  Henry David Thoreau , book Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience (1849)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "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." by Henry David Thoreau?
Henry David Thoreau photo
Henry David Thoreau 385
1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitio… 1817–1862

Related quotes

Paul Auster photo

“For only the good doubt their own goodness, which is what makes them good in the first place. The bad know they are good, but the good know nothing. They spend their lives forgiving others, but they can't forgive themselves.”

Paul Auster (1947) novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter

Paul Auster, Man In The Dark, New York: Henry Holt and Company, p. 63.
Man In The Dark (2008)

Theodore Roosevelt photo

“This country will not be a permanently good place for any of us to live in unless we make it a reasonably good place for all of us to live in.”

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

Chicago, IL http://www.trsite.org/content/pages/speaking-loudly (17 June 1912)
1910s

Milan Kundera photo

“No act is of itself either good or bad. Only its place in the order of things makes it good or bad.”

Milan Kundera The Joke

Žádné pocínání není samo o sobe dohré ani zlé. Teprve jeho místo v rádu ciní je dobrým ci zlým.
The Joke (1967)

Benjamin Banneker photo

“Evil communication corrupts good manners. I hope to live to hear that good communication corrects bad manners.”

Benjamin Banneker (1731–1806) free African American scientist, surveyor, almanac author and farmer

As quoted in Friends' Intelligencer Vol. XI (1854), p. 821

Tupac Shakur photo

“I know what good morals are,
but you're supposed to disregard good morals when you're living in a crazy, bad world. If you're in hell, how can you live like an angel? You're surrounded by devils, trying to be an angel? That's like suicide.”

Tupac Shakur (1971–1996) rapper and actor

Source: Resurrection, 1971-1996

Peter Singer photo

“Living a minimally acceptable ethical life involves using a substantial part of our spare resources to make the world a better place. Living a fully ethical life involves doing the most good we can.”

Peter Singer book The Most Good You Can Do

Preface (p. vii)
The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically (2015)

Jennifer Donnelly photo

“He who cannot endure the bad will not live to see the good.”

Jennifer Donnelly (1963) American writer

Source: The Winter Rose

Lech Wałęsa photo

“It is good that it came out that bad.”

Lech Wałęsa (1943) Polish politician, Nobel Peace Prize winner, former President of Poland

Dobrze się stało, że źle się stało.
Source: Mariusz Urbanek, "Jestem za, a nawet przeciw", in: Helge Hesse, W 80 powiedzeń dookoła świata, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 2009, ISBN 978-83-245-8733-9

John McCain photo

“I've never lived a day, in good times or bad, that I didn't thank God for the privilege.”

John McCain (1936–2018) politician from the United States

2000s, 2008, (2008)

Related topics