Henry David Thoreau Quotes About Philosophy

We have collected for you the TOP of Henry David Thoreau's best quotes about Philosophy! Here are collected all the quotes about Philosophy 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 38 sayings of Henry David Thoreau about Philosophy. 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 would we not give for some great poem to read now, which would be in harmony with the scenery,--for if men read aright, methinks they would never read anything but poems. No history nor philosophy can supply their place.

    Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.64, Xist Publishing
  • Trade and commerce, if they were not made of Indian rubber, would never manage to bounce over the obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way.

    Henry David Thoreau (2000). “Walden and Other Writings: (A Modern Library E-Book)”, p.679, Modern Library
  • As for the tenets of the Brahmans, we are not so much concerned to know what doctrines they held, as that they were held by any. We can tolerate all philosophies.... It is the attitude of these men, more than any communication which they make, that attracts us.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.547, Simon and Schuster
  • I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.

    Henry David Thoreau, David Gross (2007). “The Price of Freedom: Political Philosophy from Thoreau's Journals”, p.98, David M Gross
  • Between whom there is hearty truth there is love.

    Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.10, Heron Dance Press
  • Philosophy, having crept clinging to the rocks so far, puts out its feelers many ways in vain.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1087, Delphi Classics
  • Like speaks to like only; labor to labor, philosophy to philosophy, criticism to criticism, poetry to poetry. Literature speaks how much still to the past, how little to the future, how much to the East, how little to the West.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.280, Simon and Schuster
  • It cannot but affect our philosophy favorably to be reminded of these shoals of migratory fishes, of salmon, shad, alewives, marsh-bankers, and others, which penetrate up the innumerable rivers of our coast in the spring, even to the interior lakes, their scales gleaming in the sun; and again, of the fry which in still greater numbers wend their way downward to the sea.

    Henry David Thoreau (2017). “Collected Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated): Philosophical and Autobiographical Books, Essays, Poetry, Translations, Biographies & Letters: Walden, Civil Disobedience, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod, Slavery in Massachusetts, Walking…”, p.273, e-artnow
  • 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.

    Henry David Thoreau (1995). “Walden, Or, Life in the Woods”, p.9, Courier Corporation
  • The fact is, mental philosophy is very like Poverty, which, you know, begins at home; and indeed, when it goes abroad, it is poverty itself.

    Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.25, Jazzybee Verlag
  • Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably.

    Henry David Thoreau (2016). “Walden”, p.38, Xist Publishing
  • We have heard much about the poetry of mathematics, but very little of it has as yet been sung. The ancients had a juster notion of their poetic value than we. The most distinct and beautiful statements of any truth must take at last the mathematical form. We might so simplify the rules of moral philosophy, as well as of arithmetic, that one formula would express them both.

    Henry David Thoreau (1999). “Material Faith: Thoreau on Science”, p.12, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  • The philosopher's conception of things will, above all, be truer than other men's, and his philosophy will subordinate all the circumstances of life. To live like a philosopher is to live, not foolishly, like other men, but wisely and according to universal laws.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Selected Essays of Henry David Thoreau”, p.93, Simon and Schuster
  • There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers

    'Walden' (1854) 'Economy'
  • The Oriental philosophy approaches easily loftier themes than the modern aspires to; and no wonder if it sometimes prattle about them. It only assigns their due rank respectively to Action and Contemplation, or rather does full justice to the latter. Western philosophers have not conceived of the significance of Contemplation in their sense.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.113, Delphi Classics
  • A farmer, a hunter, a soldier, a reporter, even a philosopher, may be daunted; but nothing can deter a poet, for he is actuated by pure love. Who can predict his comings and goings? His business calls him out at all hours, even when doctors sleep.

    Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.300, Penguin
  • No method nor discipline can supersede the necessity of being forever on the alert. What is a course of history, or philosophy, or poetry, or the most admirable routine of life, compared with the discipline of looking always at what is to be seen? Will you be a reader, a student merely, or a seer?

    Henry David Thoreau (2017). “HENRY DAVID THOREAU - Ultimate Collection: 6 Books, 26 Essays & 60+ Poems, Including Translations. Biographies & Letters (Illustrated): Walden, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod, A Yankee in Canada, Canoeing in the Wilderness, Civil Disobedience, Slavery in Massachusetts, Life Without Principle, Excursions, Poems of Nature, Familiar Letters…”, p.53, e-artnow
  • Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downwards through the mud and slush of opinion and tradition, and pride and prejudice, appearance and delusion, through the alluvium which covers the globe, through poetry and philosophy and religion, through church and state, through Paris and London, through New York and Boston and Concord, till we come to a hard bottom that rocks in place which we can call reality and say, "This is and no mistake.

  • The poet uses the results of science and philosophy, and generalizes their widest deductions.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.271, Delphi Classics
  • Slow are the beginnings of philosophy.

    Henry David Thoreau (2011). “The Natural History Essays”, p.29, Gibbs Smith
  • It is not easy to make our lives respectable by any course of activity. We must repeatedly withdraw into our shells of thought, like the tortoise, somewhat helplessly; yet there is more than philosophy in that.

    Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.148, Jazzybee Verlag
  • To be a philosopher... is to solve some of the problems of life, not only theoretically, but practically.

    Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Walden”, p.9, Cosimo, Inc.
  • Things do not change; we change.

    Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Walden”, p.212, Cosimo, Inc.
  • My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to bathe my head in atmospheres unknown to my feet is perennial and constant. The highest that we can attain to is not Knowledge, but Sympathy with Intelligence. I do not know that this higher knowledge amounts to anything more definite than a novel and grand surprise on a sudden revelation of the insufficiency of all that we called Knowledge before,—a discovery that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in our philosophy.

    Henry David Thoreau (2015). “Walking”, p.26, Sheba Blake Publishing
  • In the morning I bathe my intellect in the stupendous and cosmogonal philosophy of the Bhagavad-Gita, in comparison with which our modern world and its literature seems puny and trivial.

    Henry David Thoreau (2017). “Walden: Life in the Woods”, p.184, Gibbs Smith
  • Any moral philosophy is exceedingly rare. This of Menu addresses our privacy more than most. It is a more private and familiar, and at the same time, a more public and universal word, than is spoken in parlor or pulpit nowadays.

    Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.105, Xist Publishing
  • Poetry implies the whole truth. Philosophy expresses a particle of it.

    "The Journal of Henry David Thoreau, 1837-1861".
  • All the moral laws are readily translated into natural philosophy, for often we have only to restore the primitive meaning of thewords by which they are expressed, or to attend to their literal instead of their metaphorical sense. They are already supernatural philosophy.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.271, Delphi Classics
  • Philosophy, certainly, is some account of truths the fragments and very insignificant parts of which man will practice in this workshop; truths infinite and in harmony with infinity, in respect to which the very objects and ends of the so-called practical philosopher will be mere propositions, like the rest.

    Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.281, Simon and Schuster
  • You ask if there is no doctrine of sorrow in my philosophy. Of acute sorrow I suppose that I know comparatively little. My saddestand most genuine sorrows are apt to be but transient regrets. The place of sorrow is supplied, perchance, by a certain hard and proportionately barren indifference. I am of kin to the sod, and partake of its dull patience,--in winter expecting the sun of spring.

    Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.359, Penguin
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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