50 quotes
American essayist, poet, and philosopher (1817–1862)
“Every blade in the field - Every leaf in the forest - lays down its life in its season as beautifully as it was taken up.”
"Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it shor"
on Writing
"To enjoy a thing exclusively is commonly to exlcude yourself from the true enjoyment of it."
on Mindfulness
"The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed"
on Philosophy
"Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then."
on Life
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."
"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success."
on Success
"Commonly men will only be brave as their fathers were brave, or timid."
on Courage
"If we would aim at perfection in any thing, simplicity must not be overlooked."
"Age is no better, hardly so well, qualified for an instructor as youth, for it has not profited so much as it has lost."
"Thu luxury of one class is counterbalanced by the indigence of another."
on Inequality
"It is not enought to be busy, so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?"
on Productivity
"Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion."
on Self Awareness
"A man thinking or working will always be alone, let him be where he will."
"I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion."
on Wisdom
"What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?"
on Environment
"Now-a-days, men wear a fool's cap, and call it a liberty cap."
on Freedom
"None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm."
"We are more of the earth,Farther from heaven these days."
"We now no longer camp as for a night, but have settled down on earth and forgotten heaven"
"Man wanted a home, a place for warmth, or comfort, first of physical warmth, then the warmth of the affections."
