Henry David Thoreau Quotations: Humankind
Nature has left nothing to the mercy of man.—Journal, 22 March 1861
One man lies in his words and gets a bad reputation—another in his manners and enjoys a good one.—Journal, 25 June 1852
Only make something to take the place of something, and men will behave as it it was the very thing they wanted.—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
Poets and philosophers and statesmen thus spring up in the country pastures, and outlast the hosts of unoriginal men.—"Wild Apples"
Revolutions are never sudden. Not one man, nor many men, in a few years or generations, suffice to regulate events and dispose mankind for the revolutionary movement. The hero is but the crowning stone of the pyramid,—the keystone of the arch.—Journal, 27 December 1837
That nation is not Christian where the principles of humanity so not prevail, but the prejudices of race.—Journal, 25 September 1851
The deep places in the river are not so obvious as the shallow ones and can only be found by carefully probing it. So perhaps it is with human nature.—Journal, 5 July 1859
The grammarian is often one who can neither cry nor laugh, yet thinks that he can express human emotions. So the posture-masters tell you how you shall walk—turning your toes out, perhaps, excessively—but so the beautiful walkers are not made.—Journal, 2 January 1859
The music of all creatures has to do with their loves, even of toads and frogs. Is it not the same with man?—Journal, 6 May 1852
The philanthropist too often surrounds mankind with the remembrance of his own castoff griefs as an atmosphere, and calls it sympathy.—Walden
