Henry David Thoreau Quotations: Life & Death
Our mother's faith has not grown with her experience. Her experience has been too much for her. The lesson of life was too hard for her to learn.—A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
So is all change for the better, like birth and death which convulse the body.—"Resistance to Civil Government"
Some men endeavor to live a constrained life, to subject their whole lives to their wills, as he who said he would give a sign if he were conscious after his head was cut off,—but he gave no sign. Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.—Journal, 12 March 1853
Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine lives and grows and spires, lifting its evergreen arms to the light,—to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem that its true success! But the pine is no more lumber than man is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and highest use than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and made into manure. There is a higher law affecting our relation to pines as well as to men. A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a pine than a dead human carcass is a man.—The Maine Woods
The art of life, of a poet's life is, not having any thing to do, to do something.—Journal, 29 April 1852
The best man's spirit makes a fearful sprite to haunt his tomb. The ghost of a priest is no better than that of a highwayman.—Journal, 23 December 1841
The death of friends should inspire us as much as their lives. If they are great and rich enough, they will leave consolation to the mourners before the expenses of their funerals.—Journal, 19 February 1842
The death scenes of great men are agreeable to consider only when they make another and harmonious chapter of their lives.—"Sir Walter Raleigh"
The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?—Walden
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.—Walden
