A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man's life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars.

— Henry David Thoreau

A common and natural result of an undue respect of law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel, captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills, a, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart.

— Henry David Thoreau

A distinguished clergyman told me that he chose the profession of a clergyman because it afforded the most leisure for literary pursuits. I would recommend to him the profession of a governor.

— Henry David Thoreau

Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost.

— Henry David Thoreau

A government which deliberately enacts injustice, and persists in it, will at length ever become the laughing-stock of the world.

— Henry David Thoreau

A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.

— Henry David Thoreau

Alas! How little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!

— Henry David Thoreau

All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.

— Henry David Thoreau

All men want, not something to do with, but something to do, or rather something to be.

— Henry David Thoreau

All this worldly wisdom was once the unamiable heresy of some wise man.

— Henry David Thoreau