Henry David Thoreau Quotes About Morality

We have collected for you the TOP of Henry David Thoreau's best quotes about Morality! Here are collected all the quotes about Morality starting from the birthday of the Author – July 12, 1817! We hope you will be inspired to new achievements with our constantly updated collection of quotes. At the moment, this page contains 55 sayings of Henry David Thoreau about Morality. We will be happy if you share our collection of quotes with your friends on social networks!
All quotes by Henry David Thoreau: Abolition Abundance Accidents Accomplishment Achievement Acting Addiction Adventure Affairs Affection Age Aging Aids Alcohol Ambition Anarchism Angels Animal Rights Animals Anxiety Appearance Appreciation Architecture Army Art Atheism Atmosphere Attitude Authority Autumn Awareness Beach Beauty Beer Being Alone Being Successful Being Yourself Belief Best Friends Bible Birds Birth Blessings Boat Bones Books Books And Reading Bravery Brothers Business Canvas Caring Cars Cats Change Chaos Character Charity Chastity Cheers Children Choices Christ Christianity Church Civil Disobedience Coincidence College Commitment Common Sense Communication Community Compensation Compliments Composition Confidence Conformity Confusion Conscience Consciousness Conservation Constitution Consumerism Contemplation Cooking Copper Country Courage Creation Creativity Criticism Critics Culture Curiosity Cursing Darkness Death Deception Democracy Demons Depression Design Desire Destiny Determination Devil Diamonds Difficulty Dignity Disappointment Discipline Diversity Dogma Dogs Doubt Dreams Drinking Duty Dying Earth Eating Ecology Economics Economy Education Effort Empiricism Encouraging Enemies Energy Enlightenment Enthusiasm Environment Eternity Ethics Evidence Evil Evolution Excellence Excuses Exercise Expectations Experience Eyes Facts Of Life Failing Failure Faith Fame Family Farming Fashion Fate Fathers Fear Feelings Fighting Finding Yourself Flight Flowers Flying Focus Food Freedom Freedom And Liberty Friends Friendship Funny Future Gardening Gardens Generosity Genius Get Money Giving Giving Up Glory Goals God Gold Good Deeds Good Morning Goodbye Goodness Gossip Grace Graduation Gratitude Greatness Greece Greed Greek Grief Grieving Growth Guns Habits Happiness Hard Work Harmony Hate Healing Health Heart Heaven Heroism Hills Hinduism History Home Honesty Honor Hope Horses House Human Nature Humanity Humility Hunger Hunting Hypocrisy Idleness Ignorance Imagination Immortality Imperfection Impulse Independence Individuality Injustice Innocence Insanity Inspiration Inspirational Inspiring Integrity Intelligence Jesus Jesus Christ Journalism Journey Joy Judging Justice Kindness Knowledge Labor Language Latin Laughter Lawyers Learning Libertarianism Liberty Libraries Life Listening Literature Live Life Loneliness Losing Loss Love Love And Friendship Luck Lying Making Money Management Manhood Mankind Manners Marines Marriage Mathematics Meaning Of Life Meditation Meetings Memories Mental Health Mercy Metals Mindfulness Miracles Mistakes Moderation Money Monument Moon Morality Morning Mortality Mothers Motivation Motivational Mountain Muse Music My Way Mythology Nature Navy Neighbors Obedience Observation Offense Office Old Age Opinions Opportunity Optimism Overcoming Parents Parties Past Patience Patriotism Patriots Peace Perception Perfection Perseverance Personality Perspective Pets Philanthropy Philosophy Physics Pleasure Poetry Police Politicians Politics Positive Poverty Power Praise Prayer Prejudice Preparation Pride Prisons Privacy Progress Property Prophet Protest Prudence Purity Purpose Quality Rain Rainbows Reading Reading Books Reality Rebellion Recognition Reflection Regret Reincarnation Religion Reputation Respect Responsibility Revelations Revolution Rhetoric Rings Risk Running Sabbath Sacrifice Sad Sadness Sailing Saints Sanity Satire School Science Scripture Self Esteem Self Reliance Self Respect Serenity Setting Goals Seven Shame Silence Silver Simple Life Simplicity Sin Sincerity Singing Skins Slavery Slaves Sleep Sloth Social Anxiety Social Responsibility Society Soldiers Solitude Son Songs Sorrow Soul Speculation Spirituality Sports Spring Strength Struggle Students Study Style Success Suffering Summer Sunrise Sunshine Sympathy Taxes Tea Teachers Teaching Technology Temperance Thanksgiving Time Time Management Today Trade Tradition Tragedy Train Transcendentalism Travel True Friends True Love Trust Truth Tyranny Understanding Universe Values Vegetarian Violence Virtue Vision Volunteer Voting Waiting Walking Wall War Water Weakness Wealth Weed Wilderness Wine Winter Wisdom Wit Work Worship Writing Yoga Youth more...
  • What is morality but immemorial custom? Conscience is the chief of conservatives.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.537, Simon and Schuster
  • We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice. Where is the skillful swordsman who can give clean wounds, and not rip up his work with the other edge?

    Henry David Thoreau (1996). “The nature writings of Henry David Thoreau”
  • If there were one who lived wholly without the use of money, the State itself would hesitate to demand it of him. But the rich man--not to make any invidious comparison--is always sold to the institution which makes him rich.... Thus his moral ground is taken from under his feet.

  • To the innocent there are neither cherubim nor angels.

    Henry David Thoreau (1873). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.390
  • To the virtuous man, the universe is the only sanctum sanctorum, and the penetralia of the temple are the broad noon of his existence.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.235, Delphi Classics
  • No man loses ever on a lower level by magnanimity on a higher.

    Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.193, Graphic Arts Books
  • You cannot receive a shock unless you have an electric affinity for that which shocks you.

    Henry David Thoreau (1873). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.303
  • It becomes the moralist, too, to inquire what man might do to improve and beautify the system; what to make the stars shine more brightly, the sun more cheery and joyous, the moon more placid and content.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.221, Simon and Schuster
  • But they who are unconcerned about the consequences of their actions are not therefore unconcerned about their actions.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.115, Courier Corporation
  • Only what is thought, said, or done at a certain rare coincidence is good.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.191, Simon and Schuster
  • Many expressions in the New Testament come naturally to the lips of all Protestants, and it furnishes the most pregnant and practical texts. There is no harmless dreaming, no wise speculation in it, but everywhere a substratum of good sense. It never reflects, but it repents. There is no poetry in it, we may say, nothing regarded in the light of beauty merely, but moral truth is its object. All mortals are convicted by its conscience.

    Henry David Thoreau (2017). “The Most Alive is the Wildest – Thoreau’s Complete Works on Living in Harmony with the Nature: Walden, Walking, Night and Moonlight, The Highland Light, A Winter Walk, The Maine Woods, A Walk to Wachusett, The Landlord, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Autumnal Tints, Wild Apples…”, p.327, e-artnow
  • Whatever is, and is not ashamed to be, is good.

    Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1865). “Letters to Various Persons”, p.194
  • Where there is not discernment, the behavior even of the purest soul may in effect amount to coarseness.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1138, Delphi Classics
  • Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

    Civil Disobedience (1849)
  • Christ was a sublime actor on the stage of the world. He knew what he was thinking of when he said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." I draw near to him at such a time. Yet he taught mankind but imperfectly how to live; his thoughts were all directed toward another world. There is another kind of success than his. Even here we have a sort of living to get, and must buffet it somewhat longer. There are various tough problems yet to solve, and we must shift to live, betwixt spirit and matter, such a human life as we can.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.491, Simon and Schuster
  • Others - as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders - serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few - as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men - serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part.

    Henry David Thoreau, Nancy L. Rosenblum (1996). “Thoreau: Political Writings”, p.3, Cambridge University Press
  • Do what you know you ought to do. Why should we ever go abroad, even across the way, to ask a neighbor's advice? There is a nearerneighbor within us incessantly telling us how we should behave. But we wait for the neighbor without to tell us of some false, easier way.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1786, Delphi Classics
  • I hear many condemn these men because they were so few. When were the good and the brave ever in a majority? Would you have had him wait till that time came?--till you and I came over to him?

    "A Plea for Captain John Brown" (1859)
  • How wholesome winter is, seen far or near; how good, above all mere sentimental, warm-blooded, short-lived, soft-hearted, moral goodness, commonly so called. Give me the goodness which has forgotten its own deeds,--which God has seen to be good, and let be.

    Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.284, Jazzybee Verlag
  • Men have a singular desire to be good without being good for anything, because, perchance, they think vaguely that so it will be good for them in the end.

    Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.96, Penguin
  • In a thousand apparently humble ways men busy themselves to make some right take the place of some wrong,--if it is only to make abetter paste blacking,--and they are themselves so much the better morally for it.

    Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1865). “Letters to Various Persons”, p.100
  • To live a better life,--this surely can be done.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1768, Delphi Classics
  • I say, break the law.

    Civil Disobedience (1849) See Savio 1
  • There is no such thing as accomplishing a righteous reform by the use of "expediency." There is no such thing as sliding up- hill.In morals the only sliders are backsliders.

    Henry David Thoreau (1992). “The Essays of Henry David Thoreau”, p.43, Rowman & Littlefield
  • An efficient and valuable man does what he can, whether the community pay him for it or not. The inefficient offer their inefficiency to the highest bidder, and are forever expecting to be put into office. One would suppose that they were rarely disappointed.

    Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.216, Graphic Arts Books
  • A man had better starve at once than lose his innocence in the process of getting his bread.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.415, Simon and Schuster
  • 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.

    Henry David Thoreau, Barry Andrews (2005). “True Harvest: Readings from Henry David Thoreau for Every Day of the Year”, p.83, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
  • A worm is as good a traveler as a grasshopper or a cricket, and a much wiser settler. With all their activity these do not hop away from drought nor forward to summer. We do not avoid evil by fleeing before it, but by rising above or diving below its plane; as the worm escapes drought and frost by boring a few inches deeper.

    Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.217, Xist Publishing
  • It is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always. The conscience really does not, and ought not to monopolizethe whole of our lives, any more than the heart or the head. It is as liable to disease as any other part.

    Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.96, Penguin
  • The whole body of what is now called moral or ethical truth existed in the golden age as abstract science. Or, if we prefer, we may say that the laws of Nature are the purest morality.

    Henry David Thoreau (1862). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. By Henry D. Thoreau”, p.381
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    Henry David Thoreau quotes about: Abolition Abundance Accidents Accomplishment Achievement Acting Addiction Adventure Affairs Affection Age Aging Aids Alcohol Ambition Anarchism Angels Animal Rights Animals Anxiety Appearance Appreciation Architecture Army Art Atheism Atmosphere Attitude Authority Autumn Awareness Beach Beauty Beer Being Alone Being Successful Being Yourself Belief Best Friends Bible Birds Birth Blessings Boat Bones Books Books And Reading Bravery Brothers Business Canvas Caring Cars Cats Change Chaos Character Charity Chastity Cheers Children Choices Christ Christianity Church Civil Disobedience Coincidence College Commitment Common Sense Communication Community Compensation Compliments Composition Confidence Conformity Confusion Conscience Consciousness Conservation Constitution Consumerism Contemplation Cooking Copper Country Courage Creation Creativity Criticism Critics Culture Curiosity Cursing Darkness Death Deception Democracy Demons Depression Design Desire Destiny Determination Devil Diamonds Difficulty Dignity Disappointment Discipline Diversity Dogma Dogs Doubt Dreams Drinking Duty Dying Earth Eating Ecology Economics Economy Education Effort Empiricism Encouraging Enemies Energy Enlightenment Enthusiasm Environment Eternity Ethics Evidence Evil Evolution Excellence Excuses Exercise Expectations Experience Eyes Facts Of Life Failing Failure Faith Fame Family Farming Fashion Fate Fathers Fear Feelings Fighting Finding Yourself Flight Flowers Flying Focus Food Freedom Freedom And Liberty Friends Friendship Funny Future Gardening Gardens Generosity Genius Get Money Giving Giving Up Glory Goals God Gold Good Deeds Good Morning Goodbye Goodness Gossip Grace Graduation Gratitude Greatness Greece Greed Greek Grief Grieving Growth Guns Habits Happiness Hard Work Harmony Hate Healing Health Heart Heaven Heroism Hills Hinduism History Home Honesty Honor Hope Horses House Human Nature Humanity Humility Hunger Hunting Hypocrisy Idleness Ignorance Imagination Immortality Imperfection Impulse Independence Individuality Injustice Innocence Insanity Inspiration Inspirational Inspiring Integrity Intelligence Jesus Jesus Christ Journalism Journey Joy Judging Justice Kindness Knowledge Labor Language Latin Laughter Lawyers Learning Libertarianism Liberty Libraries Life Listening Literature Live Life Loneliness Losing Loss Love Love And Friendship Luck Lying Making Money Management Manhood Mankind Manners Marines Marriage Mathematics Meaning Of Life Meditation Meetings Memories Mental Health Mercy Metals Mindfulness Miracles Mistakes Moderation Money Monument Moon Morality Morning Mortality Mothers Motivation Motivational Mountain Muse Music My Way Mythology Nature Navy Neighbors Obedience Observation Offense Office Old Age Opinions Opportunity Optimism Overcoming Parents Parties Past Patience Patriotism Patriots Peace Perception Perfection Perseverance Personality Perspective Pets Philanthropy Philosophy Physics Pleasure Poetry Police Politicians Politics Positive Poverty Power Praise Prayer Prejudice Preparation Pride Prisons Privacy Progress Property Prophet Protest Prudence Purity Purpose Quality Rain Rainbows Reading Reading Books Reality Rebellion Recognition Reflection Regret Reincarnation Religion Reputation Respect Responsibility Revelations Revolution Rhetoric Rings Risk Running Sabbath Sacrifice Sad Sadness Sailing Saints Sanity Satire School Science Scripture Self Esteem Self Reliance Self Respect Serenity Setting Goals Seven Shame Silence Silver Simple Life Simplicity Sin Sincerity Singing Skins Slavery Slaves Sleep Sloth Social Anxiety Social Responsibility Society Soldiers Solitude Son Songs Sorrow Soul Speculation Spirituality Sports Spring Strength Struggle Students Study Style Success Suffering Summer Sunrise Sunshine Sympathy Taxes Tea Teachers Teaching Technology Temperance Thanksgiving Time Time Management Today Trade Tradition Tragedy Train Transcendentalism Travel True Friends True Love Trust Truth Tyranny Understanding Universe Values Vegetarian Violence Virtue Vision Volunteer Voting Waiting Walking Wall War Water Weakness Wealth Weed Wilderness Wine Winter Wisdom Wit Work Worship Writing Yoga Youth