The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument.
Henry David Thoreau

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.
Henry David Thoreau

The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer.
Henry David Thoreau

The heart is forever inexperienced.
Henry David Thoreau

The language of excitement is at best picturesque merely. You must be calm before you can utter oracles.
Henry David Thoreau

The language of friendship is not words but meanings.
Henry David Thoreau

The law will never make a man free; it is men who have got to make the law free.
Henry David Thoreau

The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.
Henry David Thoreau

The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.
Henry David Thoreau

The man who goes alone can start today; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready.
Henry David Thoreau

The man who is dissatisfied with himself, what can he do?
Henry David Thoreau

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
Henry David Thoreau

The most I can do for my friend is simply be his friend.
Henry David Thoreau

The perception of beauty is a moral test.
Henry David Thoreau

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.
Henry David Thoreau

The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth.
Henry David Thoreau

The savage in man is never quite eradicated.
Henry David Thoreau

The smallest seed of faith is better than the largest fruit of happiness.
Henry David Thoreau

The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.
Henry David Thoreau

The universe is wider than our views of it.
Henry David Thoreau