“We preserve the so-called peace of our community by deeds of petty violence every day.”

— Henry David Thoreau, A Plea for Captain John Brown (1859)

About Henry David Thoreau

1817 – 1862

American essayist, poet and naturalist, best known for 'Walden', his account of living simply in a cabin near Walden Pond.

See all 40 Henry David Thoreau quotes →

More from 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…”

— Henry David Thoreau

“Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify.”

— Henry David Thoreau

“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