The vessel, though her masts be firm, Beneath her copper bears…

The vessel, though her masts be firm,
Beneath her copper bears a worm.

Sourced, A Week on the Concord and Marrimack Rivers
(1849)

Monday, Though All the Fates Should Prove Unkind, st. 2

Other Henry David Thoreau Quotes

The perception of beauty is a moral test. - View Quote Details on The perception of beauty is a moral test.
Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one. - View Quote Details on Any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority…
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,…
It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising; but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it. 1 - View Quote Details on It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in…
Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf
Than that I may not disappoint myself,
That in my action I may soar as high
As I can now discern with this clear eye. - View Quote Details on Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf
Than that…
This bird sees the white man come and the Indian withdraw, but it withdraws not. Its untamed voice is still heard above the tinkling of the forge… It remains to remind us of aboriginal nature. - View Quote Details on This bird sees the white man come and the Indian…
It seems to me that the god that is commonly worshipped in civilized countries is not at all divine, though he bears a divine name, but is the overwhelming authority and respectability of mankind combined. Men reverence one another, not yet God. If I thought that I could speak with discrimination and impartiality of the nations of Christendom, I should praise them, but it tasks me too much. They seem to be the most civil and humane, but I may be mistaken. - View Quote Details on It seems to me that the god that is commonly…
Talk of mysteries! — Think of our life in nature, — daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it, — rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! The solid earth! the actual world! the common sense! Contact! Contact! Who are we? where are we? - View Quote Details on Talk of mysteries! — Think of our life in nature,…
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,…
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…