The Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods Library

Thoreau's Life & Writings
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Henry D. Thoreau Quotation Pages

On Truth

• Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. [Walden, "Conclusion"]
   

• It takes two to speak the truth,—one to speak, and another to hear. [A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers]
   

• Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe. [Walden]
   

• If we dealt only with the false and dishonest, we should at last forget how to speak truth. [A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers]
   

• No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well as the truth. This alone wears well. [Walden, "Conclusion"]

A Note on the Text:

• Source: Unless otherwise noted, quotations are from The Writings of Henry David Thoreau (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906)

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