Henry David Thoreau

Books are the carriers of civilization. Without books, history is silent, literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill. I think that there is nothing, not even crime, more opposed to poetry, to philosophy, ay, to life itself than this incessant business.

Henry David Thoreau

Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.

Henry David Thoreau

Books are to be distinguished by the grandeur of their topics even more than by the manner in which they are treated.

Henry David Thoreau

Books can only reveal us to ourselves, and as often as they do us this service we lay them aside.

Henry David Thoreau

Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written.

Henry David Thoreau

But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Henry David Thoreau

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

Henry David Thoreau

Do not despair of your life. You have force enough to overcome your obstacles.

Henry David Thoreau

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

Henry David Thoreau

Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends… Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

Henry David Thoreau