Great men, unknown to their generation,
by Henry David Thoreau

Great men, unknown to their generation,
have their fame among the great who have preceded them,
and all true worldly fame subsides
from their high estimate beyond the stars.
- 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 language of Friendship is not words, but meanings.
It is an intelligence above language.
- Henry David Thoreau

Front yards are not made to walk in, but, at most, through,
and you could go in the back way.
- Henry David Thoreau

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- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Friends... they cherish one another's hopes.
They are kind to one another's dreams.
- Henry David Thoreau

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

There is danger that we lose sight of
what our friend is absolutely,
while considering what she is to us alone.
- Henry David Thoreau

We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.
- Henry David Thoreau

How could youths better learn to live
than by at once trying the experiment of living?
- Henry David Thoreau

Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.
- Henry David Thoreau

Ignorance and bungling with love
are better than wisdom and skill without.
- Henry David Thoreau

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend.
I have no wealth to bestow on him.
If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward.
Is not friendship divine in this?
- Henry David Thoreau

Every generation laughs at the old fashions,
but follows religiously the new.
- Henry David Thoreau

Not until we are lost
do we begin to understand ourselves.
- Henry David Thoreau

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

Generally speaking, a howling wilderness does not howl:
it is the imagination of the traveler that does the howling.
- Henry David Thoreau

The heart is forever inexperienced.
- Henry David Thoreau

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.
- Henry David Thoreau

Our life is frittered away by detail... simplify, simplify.
- Henry David Thoreau

What is called genius is the
abundance of life and health.
- Henry David Thoreau

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself,
than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
- Henry David Thoreau

May we so love as never to have occasion
to repent of our love!
- Henry David Thoreau

Dreams are the touchstones of our character.
- Henry David Thoreau

There is no remedy for love but to love more.
- Henry David Thoreau

I have a great deal of company in the house,
especially in the morning when nobody calls.
- Henry David Thoreau

Do what you love.
Know your own bone;
gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it,
and gnaw it still.
- Henry David Thoreau

Live your life, do your work, then take your hat.
- Henry David Thoreau

I am sorry to think that you do not get a man's
most effective criticism until you provoke him.
Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness.
- Henry David Thoreau

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

The youth gets together his materials
to build a bridge to the moon,
or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth,
and, at length, the middle-aged man
concludes to build a woodshed with them.
- Henry David Thoreau

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation
and go to the grave with the song still in them.
- Henry David Thoreau

In human intercourse the tragedy begins,
not when there is misunderstanding about words,
but when silence is not understood.
- Henry David Thoreau

To a philosopher all news,
as it is called, is gossip,
and they who edit and read it
are old women over their tea.
- Henry David Thoreau

If misery loves company, misery has company enough.
- Henry David Thoreau

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

Those whom we can love, we can hate;
to others we are indifferent.
- Henry David Thoreau

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil
to one who is striking at the root.
- Henry David Thoreau

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
- 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

Make the most of your regrets;
never smother your sorrow,
but tend and cherish it till it comes to have
a separate and integral interest.
To regret deeply is to live afresh.
- Henry David Thoreau

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.
- Henry David Thoreau

You must live in the present,
launch yourself on every wave,
find your eternity in each moment.
- Henry David Thoreau

Success usually comes to those
who are too busy to be looking for it.
- Henry David Thoreau

Through our own recovered innocence
we discern the innocence of our neighbors.
- Henry David Thoreau

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.
- Henry David Thoreau

Being is the great explainer.
- 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

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

The bluebird carries the sky on his back.
- Henry David Thoreau

The perception of beauty is a moral test.
- 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

Goodness is the only investment that never fails.
- Henry David Thoreau

Live the life you've dreamed.
- Henry David Thoreau

In the long run, men hit only what they aim at.
Therefore, they had better aim at something high.
- Henry David Thoreau

Nay, be a Columbus to whole new
continents and worlds within you,
opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.
- 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

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal,
and then leap in the dark to our success.
- Henry David Thoreau

If a man does not keep pace with his companions,
perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
- Henry David Thoreau

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important
as what you become by achieving your goals.
- Henry David Thoreau

It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.
- Henry David Thoreau

Thaw with her gentle persuasion is more powerful
than Thor with his hammer.
The one melts, the other breaks into pieces.
- Henry David Thoreau

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life
are not only not indispensable,
but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.
- Henry David Thoreau

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Live the life you have imagined.
- Henry David Thoreau

Where there is an observatory and a telescope,
we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.
- Henry David Thoreau

Nature and human life are as various
as our several constitutions.
Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?
- Henry David Thoreau

There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it
and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.
- Henry David Thoreau

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right.
Men will believe what they see.
- Henry David Thoreau

Many men go fishing all of their lives
without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
- Henry David Thoreau

Men are born to succeed, not to fail.
- Henry David Thoreau

When I hear music, I fear no danger.
I am invulnerable. I see no foe.
I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.
- Henry David Thoreau

Be not merely good; be good for something.
- Henry David Thoreau

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Friendship Quotes

Jonathan Lockwood Huie
"The Philosopher of Happiness" - is the author of 100 Secrets for Living a Life You Love, co-author of Simply An Inspired Life, speaker, personal coach, and creator of the popular Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote free email.>

Great men, unknown to their generation,by Henry David Thoreau

Friendship Quotes

Great men, unknown to their generation,
by Henry David Thoreau