I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
To be great is to be misunderstood.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.
Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.
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.
The only way to have a friend is to be one.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.
As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.
I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
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.
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.
That government is best which governs least.
Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust.
or simply:
