1
Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man's nature,--opposition to it in his love of justice.
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2
The aim of moral discipline is to purify the heart from the rust of passion and resentment, till, like a clear mirror, it reflects the light of God.
3
I would permit no man, no matter what his colour might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.
4
My experience has been that the time to test a true gentleman is to observe him when he is in contact with individuals of a race that is less fortunate than his own.
5
I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will
6
Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing animosity or registering wrongs.
7
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticise others.
8
The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought.
9
Do not admire your clothes, and then you will not be angry with the thief.
10
Nothing is more characteristic of a man than the manner in which he behaves toward fools.
11
Having treated my friend ill, I wished to apologize; but, not meeting him, I made an apology to myself.
Henry David Thoreauverified·Journal, Volume II: 1850-September 15, 1851 (ed. Bradford Torrey)·April 22, 1851
12
it is nevertheless often true that one man's vulgarity is another's lyric
13
A man who is morose or violent to his equals, is sure to be one who has lived among inferiors, whom he could frighten or worry into submission.
14
Even the commonest men reserve the violent, the sulky, the undisguisedly selfish side of their character for those who have no power to withstand it.
15
A false and a childish sorrow is appeased with as false and as childish a revenge.
16
Anger is not only a vice, but a vice point-blank against nature, for it divides instead of joining
17
I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves
18
The being who patiently endures injustice, and silently bears insults, will soon become unjust, or unable to discern right from wrong.
19
One thing you can depend on people being…is people.
20
Truth is the summit of being; justice is the application of it to affairs.
21
Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity. Pride is the burden of a foolish person.
22
Most men, when they repent, oblige their friends to share the bitterness of that repentance.
23
Noble disappointment, noble self-denial, are not to be admired, not even to be pardoned, if they bring bitterness.
24
I have been obliged to content myself through life with saying what I mean in the plainest of plain language, than which, I suppose, there is no habit more ruinous to a man's prospects of advancement.
25
In judging others a man laboureth in vain; he often erreth, and easily falleth into sin; but in judging and examining himself he always laboureth to good purpose.