David Thoreau Citations pour vivre la vie de vos rêves

The highest that we can attain to is not Knowledge, but sympathy with intelligence.

Faith never makes a confession.

The lawyer's truth is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.

There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.

The civilized man is a more experienced and wiser savage.

Speech is for the convenience of those who are hard of hearing, but there are many fine things which we cannot say if we have to shout.

This world is but a canvas to our imagination.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.

The mind can be permanently profaned by the habit of attending to trivial things.

A journal is a record of experiences and growth, not a preserve of things well done or said.

The only way to tell the truth is to speak with kindness. Only the words of a loving man can be heard

Genius is not a retainer to any emperor or is its material silver, or gold, or marble, except to a trifling extent.

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.

Justice is sweet and musical; but injustice is harsh and discordant.

What is human warfare but just this; an effort to make the laws of God and nature take sides with one party.

I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.

Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.

There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life so. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.