“Men sometimes speak as if the study of the classics would at length make way for more modern and practical studies; but the adventurous student will always study classics, in whatever language they may be written and however ancient they may be. For what are the classics but the noblest recorded thoughts of man? They are the only oracles which are not decayed, and there are such answers to the most modern inquiry in them as Delphi and Dodona never gave. We might as well omit to study Nature because she is old. To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit, is a noble exercise, and one that will task the reader more than any exercise which the customs of the day esteem.”
Henry David Thoreau“There is no remedy for love but to love more."- Henry David Thoreau”
Henry David Thoreau“He who hears the rippling of rivers in these degenerate days will not utterly despair.”
Henry David Thoreau“This American government—what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves. But it is not the less necessary for this; for the people must have some complicated machinery or other, and hear its din, to satisfy that idea of government which they have. Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed upon, even impose on themselves, for their own advantage. It is excellent, we must all allow. Yet this government never of itself furthered any enterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.”
Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience“Read the best books first, otherwise you’ll find you do not have time. - Henry David Thoreau”
Leo Tolstoy, A Calendar of Wisdom: Daily Thoughts to Nourish the Soul“As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society.”
Henry David Thoreau“We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will.”
Henry David Thoreau“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.”
Henry David Thoreau“The man who goes alone can start today but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready. ”
Henry David Thoreau“Things do not change we change. ”
Henry David Thoreau“If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see.”
Henry David Thoreau