Henry David Thoreau Quotations: MORALS & VALUES
There is no such thing as sliding up hill. In morals the only sliders are back-sliders.—Journal, 17 June 1854
There must be some narrowness in the soul that compels one to have secrets.—Journal, 21 February 1842
To live in relations of truth and sincerity with men is to dwell in a frontier country.—Journal, 12 January 1852
To me there is something devilish in manners. The best manners is nakedness of manners.—Journal, 31 January 1852
To what end do I lead a simple life at all, pray? That I may teach others to simplify their lives? — and so all our lives be simplified merely, like an algebraic formula? Or not, rather, that I may make use of the ground I have cleared to live more worthily and profitably?—Thoreau to H. G. O. Blake, 26 September 1855
Truth has properly no opponent, for nothing gets so far up on the other side as to be opposite.—Journal, 12 February 1840
Truth is ever returning into herself. I glimpse one feature to-day, another to-morrow; and the next day they are blended.—Journal, 13 November 1837
Truth strikes us from behind, and in the dark, as well as from before and in broad day-light.—Journal, 5 November 1837
Very few men can speak of Nature with any truth. They confer no favor; they do not speak a good word for her.—Journal, 7-10 March 1841
Virtue is incalculable, as it is inestimable. Well, man's destiny is but virtue, or manhood. It is wholly moral, to be learned only by the life of the soul.—Journal, 3 April 1842
