Thoreau gives some sage advice

My book-of-the-month summary for March is “Thoreau On Man & Nature” (Arthur Volkman, Peter Pauper Press, 1960).

Here are excerpts, edited for conciseness, from the 61-page volume of Henry David Thoreau’s writings:

“If I seek beauty elsewhere, my search will prove fruitless.”

“We are all sculptors and painters — our material is our own flesh and blood.”

“Be resolutely and faithfully what you are; be humbly what you aspire to be.”

“Give me this infinite expectation and faith, which does not know when it is beaten.”

“It is never too late to give up our prejudices.”

“Through our own recovered innocence we discern the innocence of our neighbors.”

“Are we not always living the life we imagine we are?”

“To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of the arts.”

“What a man thinks of himself determines his fate.”

“The fate of the country does not depend on how you vote, but on what kind of man you are.”

“You may have some glorious hours even in a poorhouse.”

“Could a greater miracle take place than to look through each other’s eyes?”

“If I were confined to a corner all my days, the world would be just as large to me while I had my thoughts.”

“Do not live inhumanely, toward man or beast, in thought or act.”

“How contented one can be with only a sense of existence.”

“What you call poverty is to me simplicity.”

“God cannot give us any help other than self-help.”

“We should impart our courage and not our despair.”

“Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land.”

“Do not stop to be scared yet; there are more terrible things to come.”

“We all stand in the front ranks of battle every moment.”

“What different aspect will courage put upon the face of things.”

“To fight in a duel implies that you hold your life cheap.”

“One grain of realization on which we stand is equivalent to acres of hope hammered out to gild our prospect.”

“If I knew a man was coming to my house with the design of doing me good, I should run for my life.”

“The gods are of no sect; they side with no man.”

Contact Wendel Sloan at: [email protected]