Walden

Quotes
“Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its inner fruits cannot be plucked by them.” Page 4

Confucius said, “To know that we know what we know, and that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.” Also… “Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again.”

“Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only indispensable, but positive hinderances to the elevation of mankind.” -page 12

“Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end.” --page 48

“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail.” --page86

“In accumulating property for ourselves or our posterity, in founding a family or a state, or acquiring fame even, we are mortal; but in dealing with truth we are immortal, and need fear no change nor accident.” --page 94

“THE ADVENTUROUS STUDENT WILL ALWAYS STUDY CLASSICS, IN WHATEVER LANGUAGE THEY MAY BE WRITTEN AND HOWEVER ANCIENT THEY MAY BE.” --PAGE 95

“Every path is your own path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.” --page 112

“I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” --page 128

“We live thick and are in each other’s way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications.” --page 129

“Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.” -page 162

“Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely of his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones…” --page 208

“The universe is wider than our views of it.” --page 299

“Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought.” --page 300

“It is not for a man to put himself in such an attitude to society, but to maintain himself in whatever attitude he find himself.” --page 302

“It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves…” --page 302

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” --page 303

“As he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. 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.” --page 303

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” --page 305

“Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.” --page 306

“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shut it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is.” --page 307

“Humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights.” --page 307