Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

American essayist and naturalist1817–1862

Henry David Thoreau lived for two years in a cabin he built at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts, from 1845 to 1847, and published Walden in 1854. His essay on civil disobedience was first printed in 1849. He earned his living mostly as a surveyor and pencil-maker.

I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.

Henry David ThoreauWalden, “Solitude”, 1854

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

Henry David ThoreauWalden, “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”, 1854

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

Henry David ThoreauWalden, “Conclusion”, 1854

Not till we are lost, in other words not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations.

Henry David ThoreauWalden, “The Village”, 1854

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Henry David ThoreauWalden, “Economy”, 1854