It is as hard to see one's self as to look backwards without turning around.

About Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau (born David Henry Thoreau; July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay "Civil Disobedience" (originally published as "Resistance...

More quotations from Henry David Thoreau

Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate.

—Henry David Thoreau

What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.

—Henry David Thoreau

A man's ignorance sometimes is not only useful, but beautiful—while his knowledge, so called, is oftentimes worse than useless, besides being ugly. Which is the best man to deal with—he who knows nothing about a subject, and, what is extremely rare, knows that he knows nothing, or he who really knows something about it, but thinks that he knows all?

—Henry David Thoreau

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

—Henry David Thoreau

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.

—Henry David Thoreau

It is as hard to see one's self as to look backwards without turning around.

About Henry David Thoreau

More quotations from Henry David Thoreau

History