A slight sound at evening lifts me up by the…

A slight sound at evening lifts me up by the ears, and makes life seem inexpressibly serene and grand. It may be Uranus, or it may be in the shutter.

Sourced, Journals (1838-1859)

July 10-12, 1841

Other Henry David Thoreau Quotes

You must love the crust of the earth on which you dwell more than the sweet crust of any bread or cake; you must be able to extract nutriment out of a sand heap. - View Quote Details on You must love the crust of the earth on which…
Howitt says of the man who found the great nugget which weighed twenty-eight pounds, at the Bendigo diggings in Australia: — “He soon began to drink; got a horse, and rode all about, generally at full gallop, and, when he met people, called out to inquire if they knew who he was, and then kindly informed them that he was ‘the bloody wretch that had found the nugget.’ At last he rode full speed against a tree, and nearly knocked his brains out.” I think, however, there was no danger of that, for he had already knocked his brains out against the nugget. - View Quote Details on Howitt says of the man who found the great nugget…
The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity, when contrasted with a finer intelligence. - View Quote Details on The finest manners in the world are awkwardness and fatuity,…
As for my own business, even that kind of surveying which I could do with most satisfaction my employers do not want. They would prefer that I should do my work coarsely and not too well, ay, not well enough. When I observe that there are different ways of surveying, my employer commonly asks which will give him the most land, not which is most correct. - View Quote Details on As for my own business, even that kind of surveying…
One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors. To dwell long upon them is to add to the offense. Repentance and sorrow can only be displaced by something better, which is as free and original as if they had not been. - View Quote Details on One cannot too soon forget his errors and misdemeanors. To…
A true account of the actual is the rarest poetry, for common sense always takes a hasty and superficial view. - View Quote Details on A true account of the actual is the rarest poetry,…
The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free. - View Quote Details on The law will never make men free; it is men…
Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. Not yet subdued to man, its presence refreshes him. - View Quote Details on Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest…
His words also were as distinct and true to the ear as those of a great singer, and he had Tennyson ’s splendid gift in this, that he never went back on his tracks to pick up the fallen loops of a sentence as commonplace talkers do. He would hesitate for an instant now and then, waiting for the right word, or would pause with a pathetic patience to master the trouble in his chest, but when he was through the sentence was perfect and entire, lacking nothing, and the word was so purely one with the man that when I read his books now and then I do not hear my own voice within my reading but the voice I heard that day. - View Quote Details on His words also were as distinct and true to the…
You can hardly convince a man of an error in a lifetime, but must content yourself with the reflection that the progress of science is slow. If he is not convinced, his grandchildren may be. - View Quote Details on You can hardly convince a man of an error in…