Henry David Thoreau
Traced to source
13 quotes we’ve traced to Henry David Thoreau
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived”
Verified“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours”
Verified“It takes two to speak the truth, — one to speak, and another to hear”
Verified“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves”
Verified“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand”
Verified“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”
Verified“This world is but canvas to our imaginations”
Verified“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm”
Attributed“It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see”
Disputed“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them”
Disputed“Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it”
Disputed“Truths and roses have thorns about them”
Disputed“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life”
DisputedNot actually Henry David Thoreau
Often misattributed to Henry David Thoreau
Famous lines widely pinned on Henry David Thoreau that we’ve traced to someone else.
“Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder”
actually J. Richard Lessor (per the Walden Woods Project) — not Thoreau
“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals”
actually Zig Ziglar
On the research bench
Commonly pinned on Henry David Thoreau — under review
1 line flagged as pinned on Henry David Thoreau and queued for a full source trace — not yet verified.
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