Quotes & Sayings About Simplicity Thoreau

The rule is to carry as little as possible. — Henry David Thoreau

I am thinking by what long discipline and at what cost a man learns to speak simply at last. — Henry David Thoreau

A simple and independent mind does not toil at the bidding of any prince. — Henry David Thoreau

Pray, for what do we move ever but to get rid of our furniture, our exuviae; at last to go from this world to another newly furnished, and leave this to be burned? — Henry David Thoreau

It is desirable that a man live in all respects so simply and preparedly that if an enemy take the town ... he can walk out the gate empty-handed and without anxiety. — Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity is the peak of civilization. — Henry David Thoreau

Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify. — Henry David Thoreau

The savage lives simply through ignorance and idleness or laziness, but the philosopher lives simply through wisdom. — Henry David Thoreau

As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. — Henry David Thoreau

Furniture! Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse. — Henry David Thoreau

That he live in all respects so compactly and preparedly that, if an enemy take the town, he can, like the old philosopher, walk out the gate empty-handed without anxiety. — Henry David Thoreau

To what end do I lead a simple life at all, pray? That I may teach others to simplify their lives? - and so all our lives be simplified merely, like an algebraic formula? Or not, rather, that I may make use of the ground I have cleared to live more worthily and profitably? — Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity is the law of nature for men as well as for flowers. — Henry David Thoreau

Some simple dishes recommend themselves to our imaginations as well as palates. — Henry David Thoreau

As for the complex ways of living, I love them not, however much I practice them. In as many places as possible, I will get my feet down to the earth. — Henry David Thoreau

Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn the old; return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. God will see that you do not want society. — Henry David Thoreau

I love a life whose plot is simple. — Henry David Thoreau

But there are spirits of a yet more liberal culture, to whom no simplicity is barren. There are not only stately pines, but fragile flowers, like the orchises, commonly described as too delicate for cultivation, which derive their nutriment from the crudest mass of peat. These remind us, that, not only for strength, but for beauty, the poet must, from time to time, travel the logger's path and the Indian's trail, to drink at some new and more bracing fountain of the Muses, far in the recesses of the wilderness. — Henry David Thoreau

A man may travel fast enough and earn his living on the road. — Henry David Thoreau

Let your capital be simplicity and contentment. — Henry David Thoreau

My themes will not be far-fetched. I will tell of homely every-day phenomena and adventures. — Henry David Thoreau

I do believe in simplicity. It is astonishing as well as sad, how many trivial affairs even the wisest thinks he must attend to in a day; how singular an affair he thinks he must omit. When the mathematician would solve a difficult problem, he first frees the equation of all incumbrances, and reduces it to its simplest terms. So simplify the problem of life, distinguish the necessary and the real. Probe the earth to see where your main roots run. — Henry David Thoreau

Simplify your life! Don't waste the years struggling for things that are unimportant. Don't burden yourself with possessions. Keep your needs and wants simple and enjoy what you have ... Don't Destroy your peace of mind by looking back, worrying about the past. Live in the present; enjoy the present. Simplify! — Henry David Thoreau

I am struck by the simplicity of light in the atmosphere in the autumn, as if the earth absorbed none, and out of this profusion of dazzling light came the autumnal tints. — Henry David Thoreau

Every New Englander might easily raise all his own breadstuffs in this land of rye and Indian corn, and not depend on distant andfluctuating markets for them. Yet so far are we from simplicity and independence that, in Concord, fresh and sweet meal is rarely sold in the shops, and hominy and corn in a still coarser form are hardly used by any. — Henry David Thoreau

We are happy in proportion to the things we can do without. — Henry David Thoreau

None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty. — Henry David Thoreau

I delight to come to my bearings, - not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuous place, but to walk even with the Builder of the universe, if I may, - not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivial Nineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by. What are men celebrating? They are all on a committee of arrangements, and hourly expect a speech from somebody. God is only the president of the day, and Webster is his orator. I love to weigh, to settle, to gravitate toward that which most strongly and rightfully attracts me; - not hang by the beam of the scale and try to weigh less, - not suppose a case, but take the case that is — Henry David Thoreau

Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail. — Henry David Thoreau

To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity and trust. — Henry David Thoreau

If we would aim at perfection in any thing, simplicity must not be overlooked. — Henry David Thoreau

Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself. — Henry David Thoreau

The very austerity of the Brahmans is tempting to the devotional soul, as a more refined and nobler luxury. Wants so easily and gracefully satisfied seem like a more refined pleasure. Their conception of creation is peaceful as a dream. — Henry David Thoreau