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Who really said it

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

Written by Henry David Thoreau 1817–1862 · American essayist, poet & naturalist
Verified Free to reuse

This is genuine Thoreau, from the “Conclusion” of Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854). In full it reads: “I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams … he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” The wording here is the accurate original — not the popular paraphrase “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.”

Last verified 10 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“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” Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854), "Conclusion"

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Provenance

The source

Work
Walden; or, Life in the Woods
Chapter
“Conclusion”
First published
1854 (Ticknor & Fields, Boston)
Author
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that 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. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him… In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex.

The full passage opens with “I learned this, at least, by my experiment” — the popular quote simply begins mid-sentence at “if one advances confidently.”

Walden, “Conclusion” (full text)

How we verified this

Public domain

The line is from Walden, first published in 1854 — well before the 1931 U.S. public-domain cutoff — so the text is in the public domain worldwide.

Fact-check

The wording people get wrong

This one isn’t misattributed — it really is Thoreau. What circulates online, though, is usually a shortened paraphrase, not his actual sentence.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” Reworded

This tidied-up two-sentence version is by far the most-shared form, but it is not what Thoreau wrote. The Walden Woods Project lists it as a mis-quotation and prints the true original alongside it.

The wording asked about here is the genuine original from the “Conclusion” of Walden — it merely begins mid-sentence, dropping Thoreau’s lead-in “I learned this, at least, by my experiment.”

Context

Why it mattered

Thoreau places this line at the very start of his “Conclusion,” as the lesson he draws from two years of deliberate, simplified living at Walden Pond. It is the book’s summation: live according to your own imagined life, and the ordinary rules bend in your favor.

The sentence has since become one of the most quoted passages in American literature — and, ironically, one of the most rewritten, usually shrunk to the crisper “Go confidently…” slogan on posters and graduation cards.

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams… he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Purpose Success Courage

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Walden, “Conclusion” (full text)courses.lumenlearning.com

The full Conclusion chapter, containing the sentence verbatim.
The Thoreau Mis-Quotation Pagewalden.org

The Walden Woods Project contrasts the correct original with the popular paraphrase.
Walden (complete work)gutenberg.org

Project Gutenberg's free public-domain edition of Walden.
Walden (Standard Ebooks edition)standardebooks.org

A carefully proofed full-text edition of Walden.
Henry David Thoreauen.wikipedia.org

Biography of the author and overview of his major works.

The true author

About Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau

1817–1862 · American essayist, poet & naturalist

Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, poet and naturalist, a central figure of New England Transcendentalism. From 1845 to 1847 he lived in a small cabin he built beside Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts; the book Walden (1854) distilled that experiment into a meditation on simple living and self-reliance. He is also remembered for the essay Civil Disobedience (1849).

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods (Boston: Ticknor & Fields, 1854), “Conclusion.”

MLA (9th ed.)

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Ticknor & Fields, 1854.

APA (7th ed.)

Thoreau, H. D. (1854). Walden; or, life in the woods. Ticknor & Fields.

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Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘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’?” Last verified 10 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/if-one-advances-confidently-in-the-direction-of-his-dreams

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