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The Henry D. Thoreau Quotation Page: Self and Self-Reliance
  • What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate. [Walden]
  • If I am not I, who will be? [Journal, 9 August 1841]
  • 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. [Walden]
  • I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well. [Walden]
  • We commonly do not remember that it is, after all, always the first person that is speaking. [Walden]

A Note on the Text: Unless otherwise noted, quotations are from The Writings of Henry David Thoreau (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906)
 

 

1854 Samuel Worcester Rowse crayon portrait of Thoreau (From The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, 1906)

It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about? — Thoreau to H.G.O. Blake, 16 November 1857

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