Henry David Thoreau

What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.

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

The perception of beauty is a moral test.

Things do not change; we change.

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

Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!

It is never too late to give up our prejudices.

I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live and could not spare any more time for that one.

The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

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.

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.