I hardly know an intellectual man, even, who is so…

I hardly know an intellectual man, even, who is so broad and truly liberal that you can think aloud in his society. Most with whom you endeavor to talk soon come to a stand against some institution in which they appear to hold stock, — that is, some particular, not universal, way of viewing things.

Sourced, Life Without Principle
(1863)

Other Henry David Thoreau Quotes

He sounds, as it were, the fatal bottom of our organic existence, and yet claims not merely to accept the universe, as another Transcendentalist, Margaret Fuller, put it, but to rejoice in it…. To the dark immensity of material Nature’s indifference we can oppose only the brief light, like a lamp in a cabin, of our consciousness; the invigorating benison of Walden is to make us feel that the contest is equal, and fair. It has emerged over time as one of the great testaments of American individualism, assuring the New World, traditional reassurances failing, of the value, power, and beauty of the unfettered self. - View Quote Details on He sounds, as it were, the fatal bottom of our…
We may well be ashamed to tell what things we have read or heard in our day. I do not know why my news should be so trivial, — considering what one’s dreams and expectations are, why the developments should be so paltry. The news we hear, for the most part, is not news to our genius. It is the stalest repetition. - View Quote Details on We may well be ashamed to tell what things we…
In wildness is the preservation of the world. - View Quote Details on In wildness is the preservation of the world.
Truly, Nature absorbed his attention, but I don’t think he cared much for what is called the beauties of nature; it was her way of working, her mystery, her economy in extravagance; he delighted to trace her footsteps toward their source…. He liked to feel that the pursuit was endless, with mystery at both ends of it…. - View Quote Details on Truly, Nature absorbed his attention, but I don’t think he…
She with one breath attunes the spheres,
And also my poor human heart. - View Quote Details on She with one breath attunes the spheres,
And also my…
Who could believe in prophecies of Daniel or of Miller that the world would end this summer, while one milkweed with faith matured its seeds? - View Quote Details on Who could believe in prophecies of Daniel or of Miller…
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…
Thoreau believed that one of the arts of life was to make the most of it. He loved the multum in parvo, or pot-luck; to boil up the little into the big. Thus, he was in the habit of saying, — Give me healthy senses, let me be thoroughly alive, and breathe freely in the very flood-tide of the living world. But this should have availed him little, if he had not been at the same time copiously endowed with the power of recording what he imbibed. His senses truly lived twice. - View Quote Details on Thoreau believed that one of the arts of life was…
What is called politics is comparatively something so superficial and inhuman, that, practically, I have never fairly recognized that it concerns me at all. The newspapers, I perceive, devote some of their columns specially to politics or government without charge; and this, one would say, is all that saves it; but, as I love literature, and, to some extent, the truth also, I never read those columns at any rate. I do not wish to blunt my sense of right so much. - View Quote Details on What is called politics is comparatively something so superficial and…
Fire is the most tolerable third party. - View Quote Details on Fire is the most tolerable third party.