WIST

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
“Civil Disobedience” (1849)

There is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself, than this incessant business.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
“Life without Principle,” Atlantic (Oct 1863)

The fate of the country does not depend on how you vote at the polls — the worst man is as strong as the best at that game; it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
“Slavery in Massachussets,” Speech, Framingham, Mass. (4 Jul 1854)
Full text.

The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
(Attributed)

I did not know that we had ever quarreled, Aunt.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
(Attributed)
On his deathbed, when asked by his Aunt Louisa if he'd made his peace with God.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
(Misattributed)

Actually from James Jeffrey Roche, "Rules of the Road" (1891):

Be silent and safe — silence never betrays you;
Be true to your word and your work and your friend;
Put least trust in him who is foremost to praise you,
Nor judge of a road till it draw to the end.

True Friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
A week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers (1849)

We should be men first, and subjects afterward.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience (1849)

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.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Conclusion” (1854)

Only that day dawns to which we are awake.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Conclusion” (1854)

In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Economy” (1854)

Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Economy” (1854)

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root ….

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Economy” (1854)

It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Economy” (1854)

Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Economy” (1854)

There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, “Economy” (1854)

Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction, — a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden, ch. 18 (1854)

Go where we will, we discover infinite change in particulars only, not in generals.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Walden,”Conclusion” (1854)

Let us know and conform only to the fashion of eternity.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (1 Sep 1841)

In enthusiasm we undulate to the divine spiritus — as the lake to the wind.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (16 Dec 1840)

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (23 Aug 1853)

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (24 Apr 1859)

There is no remedy for love but to love more.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (25 Jul 1839)

In my experience, at least of late years, all that depresses a man’s spirits is the sense of remissness — duties neglected, unfaithfulness — or shamming, impurity, falsehood, selfishness, inhumanity, and the like.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (28 Aug 1854)

I know of no rule which holds so true as that we are always paid for our suspicion by finding what we suspect.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (31 Mar 1842)
Full text.

Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (7 Sep 1851)

And the cost of a thing it will be remembered is the amount of life it requires to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American philosopher and writer
Journal (after 6 Dec 1845)