Henry David Thoreau

I would remind my countrymen that they are to be men first, and Americans only at a late and convenient hour. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#patriotism #men

Law never made men a whit more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#justice #law #men

Children, who play life, discern its true law and relations more clearly than men, who fail to live it worthily, but who think that they are wiser by experience, that is, by failure. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#experience

Der Mensch behauptet, viel zu wissen; Doch seht nur, wie sie überschießen, Die Künste und die Wissenschaften, Die tausend Errungenschaften; Der Wind, der weht, Ist alles, was er versteht. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#menschen #natur #wissenschaft #nature

Es waren schöne Frühlingstage. Der Winter menschlichen Mißvergnügens begann wie die Erde aufzutauen, das erstarrte Leben sich auszudehnen. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#leben #menschen #natur #nature

Thus the great civilizer sends out its emissaries, sooner or later, to every sandy cape and light-house of the New World which the census-taker visits, and summons the savage there to surrender. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#nature #nature

I believe that, in this country, the press exerts a greater and a more pernicious influence than the church did in its worst period. We are not a religious people, but we are a nation of politicians. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#politics #religion #religion

The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#equality

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to lead the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#dreams #dreams

There is just as much beauty visible to us in the landscape as we are prepared to appreciate, and not a grain more. ... A man sees only what concerns him. ↗

— Henry David Thoreau

#beauty #blindness #beauty