Over 40,000 Famous Quotes Sorted By Topic and Author

Pity the man who has a character to support -- it is worse than a large family -- he is silent poor indeed.

That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.

Poetry is nothing but healthy speech.

Poverty ... It is life near the bone, where it is sweetest.

The highest law gives a thing to him who can use it.

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

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

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation . . . . A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind.

What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

Light Winged Smoke Lightwinged Smoke, Icarian bird, Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight, Lark without song, and the messenger of dawn, Circling above the hamlets as thy nest; Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts; By night star-veiling, and by day Darkening the light and blotting out the sun; Go thou my incense upward from this hearth, And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame. -Henry David Thoreau-.

The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly.

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

Must be out-of-doors enough to get experience of wholesome reality, as a ballast to thought and sentiment. Health requires this relaxation, this aimless life.

Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have even lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor. -Henry David Thoreau.

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!

After the first blush of sin comes its indifference.

What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?

For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snow-storms and rain-storms and did my duty faithfully.

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.