American - Author | July 12, 1817 - May 6, 1862
There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.
Henry David Thoreau
PowerFreeAuthorityIndependentHim
There are old heads in the world who cannot help me by their example or advice to live worthily and satisfactorily to myself; but I believe that it is in my power to elevate myself this very hour above the common level of my life.
LifeLivePowerMyselfMeWorld
Great men, unknown to their generation, have their fame among the great who have preceded them, and all true worldly fame subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars.
StarsGreatMenGenerationTrue
If it is surely the means to the highest end we know, can any work be humble or disgusting? Will it not rather be elevating as a ladder, the means by which we are translated?
WorkHumbleEndKnowLadderWill
As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society.
PastSocietyPresentChangesMay
We know but a few men, a great many coats and breeches.
GreatMenKnowCoatsManyFew
Nature and human life are as various as our several constitutions. Who shall say what prospect life offers to another?
LifeNatureSayHumanHuman Life
Only that day dawns to which we are awake.
DayAwakeOnlyWhich
Not only must we be good, but we must also be good for something.
GoodSomethingMustOnlyAlso
Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable mould myself.
MyselfIntelligenceEarthVegetable
Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them.
PropertyRatherThanOurHouses
What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can. Old deeds for old people, and new deeds for new.
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