It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.

—Henry David Thoreau

About Henry David Thoreau

Portrait of 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

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

—Henry David Thoreau

Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!

—Henry David Thoreau

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

—Henry David Thoreau

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

—Henry David Thoreau

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

—Henry David Thoreau

More quotations tagged with “ability”

The trick of it, she told herself, is to be courageous and bold and make a difference. Not change the world exactly, just the bit around you. Go out there with your double-first, your passion and your new Smith Corona electric typewriter and work hard at… something. Change lives through art maybe. Write beautifully. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully well. Experience new things. Love and be loved if at all possible. Eat sensibly. Stuff like that.

—George Bernard Shaw

Be systematically heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than its difficulty, so that, when the hour of need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved or untrained to stand the test.

—Francois de La Rochefoucauld

Natural ability without education has more often attained to glory and virtue than education without natural ability.

virtue education glory ability

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

—Baltasar Gracián

The less their ability, the more their conceit.

History

11 Jul 2015 Added