Henry David Thoreau Quotations: Experience
Surely one may as profitably be soaked in the juices of a swamp for one day as pick his way dry-shod over sand. Cold and damp,—are they not as rich experience as warmth and dryness?—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
Take time by the forelock. Now or never! You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.—Journal, 24 April 1859
Talk of mysteries!—Think of our life in nature,—daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it,—rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the solid earth! the actual world! the common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? where are we?—The Maine Woods
The best way to correct a mistake is to make it right.—Thoreau to Ralph Waldo Emerson, 24 January 1843
The book exists for us perchance which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones. The at present unutterable things we may find somewhere uttered. These same questions that disturb and puzzle and confound us have in their turn occurred to all the wise men; not one has been omitted; and each has answered them, according to his ability, by his words and his life.—Walden
The chief want is ever a life of deep experiences.—Journal, 8 June 1854
The forcible writer stands bodily behind his words with his experience. He does not make books out of books, but he has been there in person.—Journal, 3 February 1852
The heart is forever inexperienced.—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
The most alive is the wildest.—"Walking"
The poet deals with his privatest experience.—Journal, 8 April 1854
