“The monster is never just there where we think he is. What is truly monstrous is our cowardice and sloth.”
Quote collection
Thinking Quotes — page 965 of 4756
“We seem to think that the earth must go through the ordeal of sheep-pasturage before it is habitable by man.”
“I think that no experience which I have today comes up to, or is comparable with, the experiences of my boyhood.”
“I desire that there be as many different persons in the world as possible; I would have each one be very careful to find out and preserve his own way.”
“Of course it is of no use to direct our steps to the woods, if they do not carry us thither. I am alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit.... What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?”
“In what concerns you much, do not think that you have companions: know that you are alone in the world.”
“Christ was a sublime actor on the stage of the world. He knew what he was thinking of when he said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." I draw near to him at such a time. Yet he taught mankind but imperfectly how to live; his thoughts were all directed toward another world. There is another kind of success than his. Even here we have a sort of living to get, and must buffet it somewhat longer. There are various tough problems yet to solve, and we must shift to live, betwixt spirit and matter, such a human life as we can.”
“Some, it seems to me, elect their rulers for their crookedness. But I think that a straight stick makes the best cane, and an upright man the best ruler.”
“That is mere sentimentality that lies abed by day and thinks itself white, far from the tan and callus of experience.”
“No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true to-day may turn out to be falsehood to-morrow.”
“As a true patriot, I should be ashamed to think that Adam in paradise was more favorably situated on the whole than the backwoodsman in this country.”
“I think it would be worth the while to introduce a school of children to such [an oak grove], that they may get an idea of the primitive oaks before they are all gone, instead of hiring botanists to lecture to them when it is too late.”
“I hardly know an intellectual man, even, who is so broad and truly liberal that you can think aloud in his society.”
“There is a certain class of unbelievers who sometimes ask me such questions as, if I think that I can live on vegetable food alone; and to strike at the root of the matter at once,--for the root is faith,--I am accustomed to answer such, that I can live on board nails. If they cannot understand that, they cannot understand much that I have to say.”
“That is a pathetic inquiry among travelers and geographers after the site of ancient Troy. It is not near where they think it is.When a thing is decayed and gone, how indistinct must be the place it occupied!”
“It is a relief to read some true book, wherein all are equally dead,--equally alive. I think the best parts of Shakespeare would only be enhanced by the most thrilling and affecting events. I have found it so. And so much the more, as they are not intended for consolation.”
“Men have a singular desire to be good without being good for anything, because, perchance, they think vaguely that so it will be good for them in the end.”
“Thinking is hard work. That's why there are so few people doing it.”
“It is regrettable that people think about our monetary system, and of our economic structure, only in times of depression.”
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you still have to file your 990 each year.”