Henry David Thoreau Quotes About Human Nature

• It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, Clothes, Fog

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.23, Graphic Arts Books

• We are conscious of an animal in us, which awakens in proportion as our higher nature slumbers. It is reptile and sensual, and perhaps cannot be wholly expelled; like the worms which, even in life and health, occupy our bodies. Possibly we may withdraw from it, but never change its nature. I fear that it may enjoy a certain health of its own; that we may be well, yet not pure.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Health, Animal, Sensual

  Henry David Thoreau (2016). “Walden”, p.157, Xist Publishing

• No man in America has ever stood up so persistently and effectively for the dignity of human nature, knowing himself for a man, and the equal of any and all governments. In that sense he was the most American of us all.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, Knowing, America

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.322, Simon and Schuster

• The moles nested in my cellar, nibbling every third potato, and making a snug bed even there of some hair left after plastering and of brown paper; for even the wildest animals love comfort and warmth as well as man, and they survive the winter only because they are so careful to secure them.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Winter, Animal, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.152, Graphic Arts Books

• I love man-kind, but I hate the institutions of the dead unkind. Men execute nothing so faithfully as the wills of the dead, to the last codicil and letter. They rule this world, and the living are but their executors. Such foundation too have our lectures and our sermons, commonly.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Education, Hate, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.109, Delphi Classics

• We are double-edged blades, and every time we whet our virtue the return stroke straps our vice. Where is the skillful swordsman who can give clean wounds, and not rip up his work with the other edge?

  Henry David Thoreau

  Rip, Evil, Giving

  Henry David Thoreau (1996). “The nature writings of Henry David Thoreau”

• Some have asked if the stock of men could not be improved,--if they could not be bred as cattle. Let Love be purified, and all therest will follow. A pure love is thus, indeed, the panacea for all the ills of the world.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Love Is, Men, World

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.165, Jazzybee Verlag

• The gods cannot misunderstand, man cannot explain.

  Henry David Thoreau

  God, Communication, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1644, Delphi Classics

• I do not believe there are eight hundred human beings on the globe.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Believe, Eight, Human Nature

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1671, Delphi Classics

• I fear that we are such gods or demigods only as fauns and satyrs, the divine allied to beasts, the creatures of appetite, and that, to some extent, our very life is our disgrace.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Life, Fauns, Human Nature

  Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.134, Graphic Arts Books

• This fond reiteration of the oldest expressions of truth by the latest posterity, content with slightly and religiously retouchingthe old material, is the most impressive proof of a common humanity.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Truth, Expression, Common Humanity

  Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.59, Delphi Classics

• For the most part, we are not where we are, but in a false position. Through an infirmity of our natures, we suppose a case, and put ourselves into it, and hence are in two cases at the same time, and it is doubly difficult to get out.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Two, Human Nature, Cases

  Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Walden”, p.212, Cosimo, Inc.

• Men cannot conceive of a state of things so fair that it cannot be realized.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, Imagination, Optimism

  Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.357, Penguin

• Men are in the main alike, but they were made several in order that they might be various. If a low use is to be served, one man will do nearly quite as well as another; if a high one, individual excellence is to be regarded.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Men, Order, Excellence

  Henry David Thoreau (1993). “Civil Disobedience, and Other Essays”, p.67, Courier Corporation

• Man is an animal who more than any other can adapt himself to all climates and circumstances.

  Henry David Thoreau

  Change, Animal, Men

  Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.187, Penguin

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