It is not enough to be industrious; so are the…

It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?

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Letter to Harrison Blake (16 November 1857)

Other Henry David Thoreau Quotes

Most men would feel insulted, if it were proposed to employ them in throwing stones over a wall, and then in throwing them back, merely that they might earn their wages. But many are no more worthily employed now. - View Quote Details on Most men would feel insulted, if it were proposed to…
Every poet has trembled on the verge of science. - View Quote Details on Every poet has trembled on the verge of science.
Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it. - View Quote Details on Do not hire a man who does your work for…
The same law that shapes the earth-star shapes the snow-star. As surely as the petals of a flower are fixed, each of these countless snow-stars comes whirling to earth…these glorious spangles, the sweeping of heaven’s floor. - View Quote Details on The same law that shapes the earth-star shapes the snow-star…
I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. - View Quote Details on I never found the companion that was so companionable as…
Even the death of Friends will inspire us as much as their lives. They will leave consolation to the mourners, as the rich leave money to defray the expenses of their funerals, and their memories will be incrusted over with sublime and pleasing thoughts, as monuments of other men are overgrown with moss; for our Friends have no place in the graveyard. - View Quote Details on Even the death of Friends will inspire us as much…
Poetry — No definition of poetry is adequate unless it be poetry itself. The most accurate analysis by the rarest wisdom is yet insufficient, and the poet will instantly prove it false by setting aside its requisitions. It is indeed all that we do not know. The poet does not need to see how meadows are something else than earth, grass, and water, but how they are thus much. He does not need discover that potato blows are as beautiful as violets, as the farmer thinks, but only how good potato blows are. The poem is drawn out from under the feet of the poet, his whole weight has rested on this ground. It has a logic more severe than the logician’s. You might as well think to go in pursuit of the rainbow, and embrace it on the next hill, as to embrace the whole of poetry even in thought. - View Quote Details on Poetry — No definition of poetry is adequate unless it…
It is remarkable that among all the preachers there are so few moral teachers. The prophets are employed in excusing the ways of men. - View Quote Details on It is remarkable that among all the preachers there are…
Poetry is the mysticism of mankind. - View Quote Details on Poetry is the mysticism of mankind.
I think his fancy for referring everything to the meridian of Concord did not grow out of any ignorance or depreciation of other longitudes or latitudes, but was rather a playful expression of his conviction of the indifferency of all places, and that the best place for each is where he stands. He expressed it once in this wise: — “I think nothing is to be hoped from you, if this bit of mould under your feet is not sweeter to you to eat than any other in this world, or in any world.” - View Quote Details on I think his fancy for referring everything to the meridian…