60 Best Henry David Thoreau Quotes That Will Inspire You

If you are looking for some inspirational quotes, I think that the following wonderful list of Henry David Thoreau quotes will be a great option for you.

Henry David Thoreau was a famous person in American literature and philosophy. He liked very much to connect with nature and seek strongly individuality.

Henry David Thoreau was also best known for his work “Walden”, which describes his experience of having a unique life alone on the shores of Walden Pond.

Henry David Thoreau’s insistence on living a life most of it in nature not only influenced his literary works but also made him a great defender of the environment.

His strong defending  for maintaining the natural world and protecting the environment made many people call for sustainability and conservation.

His quotes reflect his deep understanding that all of us can achieve more with individuality, and that nature is a place where we can understand deeply ourselves and live a happier life.

Henry David Thoreau Quotes to Inspire You

1. “Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.” – Henry David Thoreau

2. “Life in us is like the water in a river.” – Henry David Thoreau

3. “The language of friendship is not words but meanings.” – Henry David Thoreau

4. “The universe is wider than our views of it.” – Henry David Thoreau 

5. “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” – Henry David Thoreau 

6. “How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” – Henry David Thoreau 

7. “The question is not what you look at, but what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau 

8. “Surely joy is the condition of life.” – Henry David Thoreau 

The 9th of 15 Quotes

“Dreams are the touchstones of our characters.” – Henry David Thoreau 

10. “Be not simply good – be good for something.” – Henry David Thoreau  

11. “As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” – Henry David Thoreau 

12. “Only that traveling is good which reveals to me the value of home and enables me to enjoy it better.” – Henry David Thoreau 

13. “It appears to be a law that you cannot have a deep sympathy with both man and nature.” – Henry David Thoreau 

14. “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.” – Henry David Thoreau 

15. “What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.” – Henry David Thoreau 

Henry David Thoreau Quotes About life and Nature

1. “Goodness is the only investment that never fails.” – Henry David Thoreau 

2. “Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” – Henry David Thoreau 

3. “Be yourself– not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” – Henry David Thoreau 

4. “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” – Henry David Thoreau 

5. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…” – Henry David Thoreau

6. “All good things are wild and free.” – Henry David Thoreau  

7. “Our life is frittered away by detail…simplify, simplify.” – Henry David Thoreau 

8. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them” – Henry David Thoreau 

9. “We need the tonic of wildness…At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.” – Henry David Thoreau 

The 10th of 15 Quotes

“Men are born to succeed, not to fail.” – Henry David Thoreau 

11. “Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.” – Henry David Thoreau 

12. “Things do not change; we change.” – Henry David Thoreau 

13. “Not all who wander are lost.” – Henry David Thoreau 

14. “Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.” – Henry David Thoreau

15. “It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are… than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise” – Henry David Thoreau 

Henry David Thoreau Quotes on Dreams, Success, and Friends

1. “Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.” – Henry David Thoreau

2. “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.” – Henry David Thoreau 

3. “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” – Henry David Thoreau 

4. “Most of the luxuries and many so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.” – Henry David Thoreau 

5. “Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.” – Henry David Thoreau  

6. “Morning is when I’m awake, and there is dawn in me.” – Henry David Thoreau 

7. “Truths and roses have thorns about them.” – Henry David Thoreau 

8. “A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority.” – Henry David Thoreau 

9. “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Henry David Thoreau 

10. “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” – Henry David Thoreau 

Thoughtful Henry David Thoreau Quotes

1. “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau 

2. “Be yourself, not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” – Henry David Thoreau 

3. “It is never too late to give up our prejudices.” – Henry David Thoreau 

4. “As if you could kill time without injuring eternity” – Henry David Thoreau 

5. “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” – Henry David Thoreau 

6. “The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us.” – Henry David Thoreau 

7. “Knowledge does not come to us by details, but in flashes of light from heaven.” – Henry David Thoreau 

8. “When it is time to die, let us not discover that we never lived.” – Henry David Thoreau 

9. “Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant?” – Henry David Thoreau 

10. “If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.” – Henry David Thoreau

More Henry David Thoreau  Quotes

1. “We are born as innocents. We are polluted by advice.” – Henry David Thoreau

2. “Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” – Henry David Thoreau

3. “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.” – Henry David Thoreau

4. “Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.” – Henry David Thoreau

5. “This world is but canvas to our imaginations.” – Henry David Thoreau

6. “Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.” – Henry David Thoreau

7. “Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.” – Henry David Thoreau

8. “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” – Henry David Thoreau 

9. “Be resolutely and faithfully what you are; be humbly what you aspire to be.” – Henry David Thoreau

10. Nature is as well adapted to our weakness as to our strength.” – Henry David Thoreau

Final Thoughts About Henry David Thoreau Quotes

Henry David Thoreau quotes make us more aware that we have the ability to live a more meaningful and real life.

His wise messages on the value of living a simple life, self-reliance and self-belief continue today to have a great positive impact on many people around the world.

His great contribution to literature especially by his famous work “Walden”, has been a main source of inspiration for millions of people who search living a life of authencity and nature.

Henry David Thoreau wisdom continues to inspire many people through his powerful words that make readers think deeply about the meaning of life.