He who hears the rippling of rivers in these degenerate days will not utterly despair.

The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get “a good job,” but to perform well a certain work; and, even in a pecuniary sense, it would be economy for...

Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not...

Now-a-days, men wear a fool’s cap, and call it a liberty cap.

Do what you love. Know your own bone; gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it, and gnaw it still.

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only indispensable, but positive hinderances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever...

The language of Friendship is not words, but meanings.

On the death of a friend, we should consider that the fates through confidence have devolved on us the task of a double living, that we have henceforth to fulfill the promise of our friend’s...

Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of...

The trees and shrubs rear white arms to the sky on every side; and where were walls and fences, we see forms stretching in frolic gambols across the dusky landscape, as if Nature had strewn...

In my opinion, the sun was made to light worthier toil than this.

Those who, while they disapprove of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform.

My enemies are worms, cool days, and most of all woodchucks.

Thu luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another.

Truth strikes us from behind and in the dark, as well as from before and in broad daylight.

A truly good book is something as natural, and as unexpectedly and unaccountably fair and perfect, as a wild-flower discovered on the prairies of the West or in the jungles of the East. Genius is...

The works of the great poets have never yet been read by mankind, for only great poets can read them. Most men have learned to read to serve a paltry convenience, as they have learned...

This was sheer idleness to my fellow-townsmen, no doubt; but if the birds and flowers had tried me by their standard, I should not have been found wanting. A man must find his occasions in...

The greatest art is to shape the quality of the day.

We now no longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven

Amid a world of noisy, shallow actors it is noble to stand aside and say, ‘I will simply be.

It is desirable that a man live in all respects so simply and preparedly that if an enemy take the town… he can walk out the gate empty-handed and without anxiety.

A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life...

As for Doing-good,that is one of the professions which are full. Moreover, I have tried itfairly, and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agreewith my constitution. Probably I should not...

Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself.

Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our strength.

Men sometimes speak as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies; but the adventurous student will always study classics, in whatever language they may be...

See how he cowers and sneaks, how vaguely all the day he fears, not being immortal nor divine, but the slave and prisoner of his own opinion of himself, a fame won by his own...

I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the...

Every man casts a shadow; not his body only, but his imperfectly mingled spirit. This is his grief. Let him turn which way he will, it falls opposite to the sun; short at noon, long...

The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed

It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?

Every blade in the field – Every leaf in the forest – lays down its life in its season as beautifully as it was taken up.

Se uma planta não pode viver de acordo com sua natureza, ela morre. O mesmo ocorre com um homem.

No man ever followed his genius till it misled him. Though the result were bodily weakness, yet perhaps no one can say that the consequences were to be regretted, for these were a life in...

Tatsächlich hat der arbeitende Mensch heute nicht mehr die Muße, sein Leben Tag für Tag wirklich sinnvoll zu gestalten.Wahrhaft menschliche Beziehungen zu seinen Mitmenschen kann er sich nicht leisten; es würde den Marktwert seiner Arbeit...

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.

be yourself- not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.

The tragedy in a man’s life is what dies inside of him while he lives.

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

Not till we are lost, in other words not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.

What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.

As the sun went down, I saw a solitary boatman disporting on the smooth lake. The falling dews seemed to strain and purify the air, and I was soothed with an infinite stillness. I got...

If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. But do not care to convince him. Men will believe what they see. Let them see.

A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener. So our prospects brighten on the influx of better thoughts. We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of...

We are more of the earth,Farther from heaven these days.

A man, any man, will go considerably out of his way to pick up a silver dollar; but here are golden words, which the wisest men of antiquity have uttered, and whose worth the wise...

None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty.

Simplify, simplify.

Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have. As...