A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.
Henry David Thoreau

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
Henry David Thoreau

A man's interest in a single bluebird is worth more than a complete but dry list of the fauna and flora of a town.
Henry David Thoreau

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.
Henry David Thoreau

After the first blush of sin comes its indifference.
Henry David Thoreau

Aim above morality. Be not simply good, be good for something.
Henry David Thoreau

Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!
Henry David Thoreau

All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one... characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers.
Henry David Thoreau

All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.
Henry David Thoreau

All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.
Henry David Thoreau


An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David Thoreau

An unclean person is universally a slothful one.
Henry David Thoreau

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
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

As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.
Henry David Thoreau

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
Henry David Thoreau

As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society.
Henry David Thoreau

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.
Henry David Thoreau

Be not simply good - be good for something.
Henry David Thoreau

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.
Henry David Thoreau