Henry David Thoreau Quotes

Through this experience we have been warned - learn everything, don't forget anything!

If I cannot add to my own low level of understanding, I could ill afford to try to raise that of others, seeing that it belongs to our Creator and Lord to give much or little.

Be convinced that, if man were able to reach the end without preparatory studies, such studies would not be preparatory but tiresome and utterly superfluous.

I am not as scared about people tearing this one up as I would have been in the past because of the basis in 'knowing' this one has. There are people out there that are hungry for this.

While one man can discover a certain thing by himself, another is never able to understand it, even if taught by means of all possible expressions and metaphors, and during a long period; his mind can in no way grasp it, his capacity is insufficient for it.

The thing about anything in life is you have to get ready for it. Study, learn.

The world is large, very large. My head is small, quite small. There is no way I can put the world in my head. Nevertheless, I have been trying to elaborate some kind of representation.

The audience is a very curious animal. It is shrewd rather than intelligent. Its mental capacity is less than that of its most intellectual members.

If you don't ask the right questions, I can't give you the answers, and if you don't know the right question to ask, you're not ready for the answers

Some people still think knowledge is power.

It gave a tremendous level of self-confidence, that through exploration and learning one could understand seemingly very complex things in one's environment.

We should rather examine, who is better learned, than who is more learned.

Words have to find a man's mind before they can touch his heart, and some men's minds are woefully small targets.

There are three kinds of brains: One understands of itself, another can be taught to understand, and the third can neither understand to itself or be taught to understand.

I know that knowledge and intelligence are not the same thing - but they do live in the same neighborhood. I know once again, firsthand, the joy of learning.

... the mind must be prepared for knowledge as one prepares a field for planting, and a discovery made too soon is no better than a discovery not made at all.

There is a difference between people who are educated and people who are smart.

There are three kinds of minds: first those that attain insight and understanding of things by their own means, then those that recognize what is right when others explain it to them, and finally those that are capable of neither one nor the other.

You've got to listen to your body, notice some trends in yourself and do the best you can to be ready when a finish line approaches.

Learning is, in too many cases, but a foil to common sense; a substitute for true knowledge.

On those days when I can spend a few hours getting some understanding, I feel fulfilled. I feel as if I have made good use of my time.

There are three kinds of brains. The one understands things unassisted, the other understands things when shown by others, the third understands neither alone nor with the explanations of others.

I admit that I myself am far from having a complete command of every topic I touch on, but my knowledge of my subject is always greater than the interest or the understanding of my auditors. You see, there is one very good thing about mankind; the mediocre masses make very few demands of the mediocrities of a higher order, submitting stupidly and cheerfully to their guidance

I only know when I don't know a thing. My uncle has taught me that wisdom lies in that.

What I really need is to get clear out about what I must do, not what I must know, except insofar as knowledge precedes every act.