Henry David Thoreau Quotes

When was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and looking at the sea, or watching the wind blowing the tree limbs, or waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park?

I never for a day gave up listening to the songs of our birds, or watching their peculiar habits, or delineating them in the best way I could.

As far as what I do love, I love birds; I love lavender.

I might find myself standing, transfixed, by the roadside, watching a sparrowhawk hunting among the bushes, astonished that other people could ignore it. But they might just as well be wondering how I could have failed to notice the new V6 Pentastar Sahara that just drove past.

For us in the minority, the opportunity to see geese is more important than television.

Better beans and bacon in peace than cakes and ale in fear.

One happy day for every falling leaf you catch. Sam's voice was low.

One day I'm going to write a book about osprey. It has really gotten deep into my bloodstream. So when you ask what else I do, I feel like this is part of what I do....is to watch these birds.

What the eye delights in, no longer dictates My greed to enjoy: boys, grass, the fenced-off deer. It leaves those figures that distantly play On the horizon's rim: they sign their peace, in games.

Thanks for this day, for all birds safe in their nests, for whatever this is, for life.

Enjoy simple things with total intensity. Just a cup of tea can be a deep meditation.

Burn, O evening hearth, and waken Pleasant visions, as of old! Though the house by winds be shaken, Safe I keep this room of gold!

Whatever you do....don't fall asleep.

This is no science, this is art, where equations fall away to elements like resolving chords, and where always prevails a symmetry either explicit or multiplex, but always of a crystalline serenity.

If you can sit quietly after difficult news; if in financial downturns you remain perfectly calm; if you can see your neighbors travel to fantastic places without a twinge of jealousy; if you can happily eat whatever is put on your plate; you can fall asleep after a day of running around without a drink or a pill; if you can always find contentment just where you are: you are probably a dog.

Man can learn a lot from fishing - when the fish are biting no problem in the world is big enough to be remembered.

He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses, and up to the windows; and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk — that anything — could give him so much happiness.

he was figuratively following along beside her as she walked the fence, ready to catch her if she should fall.

Be silent and safe-silence never betrays you.

Silence never yet betrayed any one!

It's also easy to fall back into what's familiar, what feels safe, what you've done before.

Another day in paradise' was his inevitable pronouncement when he settled his head on his pillow. Now I understand what that meant: the uneventful day was a precious gift.