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" We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones. Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man's features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them. "

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" I have seen how the foundations of the world are laid, and I have not the least doubt that it will stand a good while. "

Henry David Thoreau

Seen

Doubt

Good

" I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business. "

" There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. "

" If the machine of government is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. "

" What is called genius is the abundance of life and health. "

" The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. "

" The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools, but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time. "

" In the long run, men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they had better aim at something high. "

" The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run. "

" The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. "

" It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know. "

" The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency. "

" We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches. "

" If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated? "

" I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now. "

" If I seem to boast more than is becoming, my excuse is that I brag for humanity rather than for myself. "

" It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man. "

" Our moments of inspiration are not lost though we have no particular poem to show for them; for those experiences have left an indelible impression, and we are ever and anon reminded of them. "

" Goodness is the only investment that never fails. "

" Some are reputed sick and some are not. It often happens that the sicker man is the nurse to the sounder. "

" There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. "

" As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution. "

" If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. "

" It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil. "

" What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us. "

Henry David Thoreau

Ahead

Behind

" It is usually the imagination that is wounded first, rather than the heart; it being much more sensitive. "

" There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature. "

" Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake. "

" Instead of noblemen, let us have noble villages of men. "

Henry David Thoreau

Villages

Noble

" Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. "