Citations mémorables d'Henry David Thoreau

There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.

It is the greatest of all advantages to enjoy no advantage at all.

Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.

Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without.

I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion.

Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist with wrong-doing.

Dwell as near as possible to the channel in which your life flows.

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

The unconsciousness of man is the consciousness of God.

Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you; but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

Our inventions are won't to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things.

It is only when we forget all our learning that we begin to know.

Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside.

It is not part of a true culture to tame tigers, any more than it is to make sheep ferocious.

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.

Men are not so much the keepers of herds as herds are the keepers of men.

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

We live a short period of time in this world, but we live it according to the laws of eternal life.

I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.

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