Henry David Thoreau Quotes

The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

If you are kept in ignorance of the true way and permit yourself to rely upon and be guided by the opinion of imperfect man, you can never gain the riches that will bring you peace and lasting happiness.

To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.

To a wise man, the whole earth is open; for the native land of a good soul is the whole earth.

That wisdom which cannot teach me that God is love, shall ever pass for folly.

What you know, you know, what you don't know, you don't know. This is true wisdom.

Much of the wisdom of the world is not wisdom, and the most illuminated class of men are no doubt superior to literary fame, and are not writers.

The true wisdom of the philosopher ought to insist in enjoying everything. Yet we apply ourselves to dissecting and destroying everything that is good in itself, that has virtue, albeit the virtue there is in mere illusions. Nature gives us this life like a toy to a weak child. We want to see how it all works; we break everything. There remains in our hands, and before our eyes, stupid and opened too late, the sterile wreckage, fragments that will not again make a whole. The good is so simple.

Who knows whence he comes, where he is, and whither he tends, he, and he alone, is wise.

Being spiritual does not mean being dead serious. If you allow life to happen within you exuberantly, unbridled, you will touch the spirit.

The more he became truly wise, the more he distrusted everything he knew.

I'm a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine - and that's all I want to have.

The fool who thinks he is wise is just a fool. The fool who knows he is a fool is wise indeed.

True wisdom comes from the overcoming of suffering and sin. All true wisdom is therefore touched with sadness.

True wisdom is a thing very extraordinary. Happy are they that have it: and next to them, not those many that think they have it, but those few that are sensible of their own defects and imperfections, and know that they have it not.

True knowledge without xperience is food without sustenance

True wisdom consists in respecting the simple things we do

We must not only obtain Wisdom: we must enjoy her.

To remain absolutely free is what a true and authentic life is. So never gather any character - remain characterless.

That knowledge which purifies the mind and heart alone is true Knowledge, all else is only a negation of Knowledge.

Humility does not mean believing oneself to be inferior, but to be freed from self-importance. It is a state of natural simplicity which is in harmony with our true nature and allows us to taste the freshness of the present moment.

Wisdom cannot be imparted. Wisdom that a wise man attempts to impart always sounds like foolishness to someone else.