51 Best Walden Quotes From Henry David Thoreau
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Henry David Thoreau's 'Walden'was published in 1854.
'Walden' is a book written by American writer Henry David Thoreau. 'Walden' is the outcome of a two-year experiment (from July 1845 to September 1847) carried out by Henry David Thoreau, who lived in an isolated place called Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts.
Henry David Thoreau built a small cabin beside Walden Pond and lived there in isolation. In his two years of life in the woods, Thoreau realized that humans could live a satisfying life without getting overwhelmed by modern-day amenities.
The book shows what a human is capable of and characterizes that wisdom and experience are more worth than wealth and materialistic power. The central theme of 'Walden' is the joy of a simple life. Thoreau states that despite living in society, man should retain individuality, and he emphasizes the importance of joy and satisfaction.
Here are the best 'Walden' Henry David Thoreau quotes. If you like these quotes, check out these Henry David Thoreau quotes and 'Call Of The Wild' quotes too!
Famous Quotes From 'Walden'
Here is the list of 'Walden' economy quotes, 'Walden' solitude quotes, 'Walden' transcendentalism quotes, and more. These quotes are all about how Thoreau fights society in 'Walden'.
1."Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."
-Henry David Thoreau.
2."If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be."
-Henry David Thoreau.
3."As if you could kill time without injuring eternity."
-Henry David Thoreau.
4."A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone."
- Henry David Thoreau.
5."However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names."
- Henry David Thoreau.
6."The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."
- Henry David Thoreau.
7."All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be."
-Henry David Thoreau.
8."We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn."
-Henry David Thoreau.
9."Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations."
-Henry David Thoreau.
10."I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude."
-Henry David Thoreau.
11."I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor."
-Henry David Thoreau.
12."We need the tonic of wildness... We can never have enough of nature."
-Henry David Thoreau.
13."I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion."
-Henry David Thoreau.
14."I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well."
-Henry David Thoreau.
15."Economy is a subject which admits of being treated with levity, but it cannot so be disposed of."
-Henry David Thoreau.
16."It is a labor to task the faculties of a man—such problems of profit and loss, of interest, of tare and tret, and gauging of all kinds in it, as demand a universal knowledge."
-Henry David Thoreau.
17."Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify."
-Henry David Thoreau.
18."To us, snow and cold seem a mere delaying of the spring. How far we are from understanding the value of these things in the economy of Nature!"
-Henry David Thoreau.
19."The taste for the beautiful is most cultivated out of doors."
-Henry David Thoreau.
20."What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives with in us."
-Henry David Thoreau.
21."I have a room all to myself; it is Nature."
-Henry David Thoreau.
22."Be yourself- not your idea of what you think somebody else's idea of yourself should be."
-Henry David Thoreau.
23."From the right point of view, every storm and every drop in it is a rainbow."
-Henry David Thoreau.
24."I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
-Henry David Thoreau.
25."Many have believed Walden reached quite through to the other part of the globe."
-Henry David Thoreau.
26. "All nature is your congratulation, and you have cause momentarily to bless yourself."
-Henry David Thoreau.
27."Turn the old; return to them. Things do not change; we change."
-Henry David Thoreau.
28."How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book."
-Henry David Thoreau.
29."An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."
-Henry David Thoreau.
'Walden' Quotes About The Woods
'Walden' states that everyone should respect and care for nature, not destroy it. Our earth is our priceless possession and everyone should learn from it. Here are some 'Walden' quotes about nature.
30."Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth."
-Henry David Thoreau.
31."Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads."
-Henry David Thoreau.
32."Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with nature herself."
-Henry David Thoreau.
33."There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."
-Henry David Thoreau.
34."As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind."
-Henry David Thoreau.
35."Every oak tree started out as a couple of nuts who stood their ground."
-Henry David Thoreau.
'Walden' Pond Quotes
Thoreau's decision to live in woods far from society is deliberate, he states that it's everyman's duty to make life memorable. Here is the list of quotes about how Thoreau fights society in 'Walden'.
36."We have the St. Vitus' dance, and cannot possibly keep our heads still."
-Henry David Thoreau.
37."That man who does not believe that each day contains an earlier, more sacred, and auroral hour than he has yet profaned, has despaired of life, and is pursuing a descending and darkening way."
-Henry David Thoreau.
38."While civilization has been improving our houses, it has not equally improved the men who are to inhabit them."
-Henry David Thoreau.
39."Be it life or death, we crave only reality. "
-Henry David Thoreau.
40. "I hate that my motive for visiting a friend should be that I want society; that it should lie in my poverty and weakness, and not in his and my riches and strength."
-Henry David Thoreau.
41."I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society."
-Henry David Thoreau.
42."How much of the life of certain men goes to sustain—to make respected—the institutions of society."
-Henry David Thoreau.
43."I see nothing permanent in the society around me, and am not quite committed to any of its ways."
-Henry David Thoreau.
44."I say, beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes."
-Henry David Thoreau.
45."Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."
-Henry David Thoreau.
46."The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run."
-Henry David Thoreau.
'Walden' Self-Reliance Quotes
Self-reliance is a set of principles that state that one must live life combining philosophy and practicality. Here is a list of 'Walden' quotes about self-reliance.
47."We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking."
-Henry David Thoreau.
48."In most books, the I, of first-person, is omitted; in this, it will be retained; that, in respect to egotism, is the main difference."
-Henry David Thoreau.
49."It's the beauty within us that makes it possible for us to recognize the beauty around us."
-Henry David Thoreau.
50."The path of least resistance leads to crooked rivers and crooked men."
-Henry David Thoreau.
51."It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do."
-Henry David Thoreau.
At Kidadl, we have created lots of family-friendly quotes for everyone! If you liked our suggestions for 'Walden' quotes from Henry David Thoreau, why not take a look at these wilderness quotes or transcendentalism quotes for more?
Main image credit: spatuletail / Shutterstock.com
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Master of Business Administration
Deepthi ReddyMaster of Business Administration
With an MBA under her belt, Deepthi has discovered her true calling in content writing. Her writing repertoire is diverse, covering travel, movies, pet care, parenting, animals and birds, and more. Her joy of learning and creating has helped her craft well-written and engaging articles. When she isn't writing, Deepthi enjoys exploring new cultures, trying different foods, and spending quality time with her two children aged 7 and 12.
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