Walden; or, Life in the Woods (Primary source)
Walden is Henry David Thoreau’s reflective account of his two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond, near Concord, Massachusetts. Written as a blend of memoir, social critique, and philosophical meditation, the book explores themes of self-reliance, mindfulness, and the relationship between humanity and nature.
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“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary source“I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary source“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 Primary source“And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter,—we never need read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?”
— Henry David Thoreau Primary sourceMore quotes by Henry David Thoreau →
“A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“Life is a journey, not a destination.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Disputed“Our first line of defence is the enemy’s port.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source