For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and…

For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms, and did my duty faithfully, though I never received one cent for it.

Sourced, Journals (1838-1859)

After February 22, 1846

Other Henry David Thoreau Quotes

When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip. We rarely meet a man who can tell us any news which he has not read in a newspaper, or been told by his neighbor; and, for the most part, the only difference between us and our fellow is, that he has seen the newspaper, or been out to tea, and we have not. In proportion as our inward life fails, we go more constantly and desperately to the post-office. - View Quote Details on When our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation…
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…
Those services which the community will most readily pay for it is most disagreeable to render. You are paid for being something less than a man. - View Quote Details on Those services which the community will most readily pay for…
Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star. - View Quote Details on Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There…
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,…
We are apt to imagine that this hubbub of Philosophy, Literature, and Religion, which is heard in pulpits, lyceums, and parlors, vibrates through the universe, and is as catholic a sound as the creaking of the earth’s axle. But if a man sleeps soundly, he will forget it all between sunset and dawn. - View Quote Details on We are apt to imagine that this hubbub of Philosophy,…
In some lyceums they tell me that they have voted to exclude the subject of religion. But how do I know what their religion is, and when I am near to or far from it? I have walked into such an arena and done my best to make a clean breast of what religion I have experienced, and the audience never suspected what I was about. - View Quote Details on In some lyceums they tell me that they have voted…
An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day. - View Quote Details on An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole…
If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things. - View Quote Details on If you can speak what you will never hear, if…
A poem is one undivided unimpeded expression fallen ripe into literature, and it is undividedly and unimpededly received by those for whom it was matured. - View Quote Details on A poem is one undivided unimpeded expression fallen ripe into…