Henry David Thoreau

b. July 12, 1817 — d. May 6, 1862

How does it become a man to behave towards the American government today? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace be associated with it.

If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.

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.

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

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?

It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.

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

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

Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.

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