Quotes

“To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society.”

·         To be alone, you need to be away from familiar surroundings and other people.(from Nature by Emerson)

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown.”

         Rare encounter in nature gives us a remembrance of God

(Nature by Emerson)

“The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are always inaccessible; but all natural objects make a kindred impression, when the mid is open to their influence.”

·         Nature is impressive and spectacular

·         We appreciate the stars because we can’t get to them, but everything in nature is as spectacular as the stars if we are open to it ( Nature by Emerson)

“Nature never wears a mean appearance.”

·         Nature is always awesome

Nature by Emerson

“To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature.”

·         Adults are so caught up in their life that they don’t notice nature (Nature by Emerson)

“Standing on a bare ground—my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space—all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particular of God.”

·         When I am in nature:

o   I stop focusing on myself

o   I see things more clearly

o   I get a sense of God

Nature By Emerson

“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit.”

·         Nature seems to reflect our feelings

·         Ex:

o   Rainy day= either happy or sad

Nature by Emerson

“There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at a conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion.”

·         Some point, you will realize it is stupid to be jealous

·         If you copy others, you are killing yourself

·         You need to accept who you are

     self-reliance Emerson

“We but half express ourselves.”

·         People are so busy trying to fit in that they don’t reach their potential

Emerson self-reliance

“Trust thyself: Every heart beat vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine Providence has found for you.”

·         Follow your intuition and  become who you are meant to be

Self-reliance Emerson

“These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter the world.”

·         When we get out into nature by ourselves, we are most in touch with out intuition

·          reenter society, we are pushed to fit in

self-reliance emerson

“The virtue in most requests is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion.”

·         Society wants people to be the same

Self-reliance Emerson

Who so would be a man, must be a nonconformist.”

·         To be yourself, you’ll be different

self reliance Emerson

“Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.”

·         Most important thing is to be true to yourself

Self reliance Emerson

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

·         Little mind= narrow mind

·         Stupid to stay the same just for the stake of staying the same (no growth)

Self reliance by Emerson

“Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, through it contradict everything you said today.”

·         Always speak your mind even if it goes against what you said before

Self reliance by Emerson

“To be great is to be misunderstood.”

·         When you become who you are meant to be, people might think you are weird/ funny/ different

·         People won’t get you

self reliance Emerson

“Who knows but if men constructed their dwellings with their own hands, and provided food for themselves and families simply and honestly enough, the poetic faculty would be universally developed.”

·         when they complete something on their own people would get what they want and satisfaction and would have an outlet for their creativity

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

I believe that that was doing better than any farmer in Concord did that year.”

·         Learning experience

·When you do something yourself, you get more satisfaction than when you do something for money

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential fact of life, and see if I could not learn what is had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

1.       To live simply

2.       To learn natures lessons

3.       To get the most out of the experience so ill have no regrets when he dies

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.”

·         Live life to the fullest

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us.”

·         Be careful when it comes to technology so that it doesn’t hurt  but only helps you

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“Simplify, Simplify.”

·         Look at life and decide what is important to you; de-clutter your life

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“I was determined to know beans.”

·         Throw yourself into everything you do

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“Internecine war.”

·         Both sides in war lose

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there.”

·         Reasons for leaving

1.       Learned to live simply

2.       I know what I need to be happy

3.       I got the lessons from nature

4.       I’m moving to a new experience so ill have no regrets when I die

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

How deep the ruts of tradition and conformity.”

·         Difficult to become who you are meant to be and to chance what you believe or follow

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“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.”

·         Set goals high and you will be surprised with what you accomplish

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“Let everyone mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made.”

·         Don’t worry about others’, worry about who you are meant to be

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”

·         If you see someone different, don’t make fun of them because they are probably trying to become who they are meant to be

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

Who does not feel his faith in a resurrection and immortality strengthened by hearing of this?”

·         You can get lessons from nature or nature has lessons to offer

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

Only that day dawns to which we are awake.”

·         We get lessons from nature only if we are open to receive them

Henry David Thoreau: Life in the Woods

“That government is best which governs least.”

·         In an ideal world, people wouldn’t need government, or less government is better

Henry David Thoreau: Resistance to Civil Government

“The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right…”

·         Always follow your conscience

Henry David Thoreau: Resistance to Civil Government

“The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in unjust war by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war.”

·         Caution: consider not just the act but also the consequences

Henry David Thoreau: Resistance to Civil Government

“For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: What is once well done is done forever.”

·         One person can cause change/make a difference

Henry David Thoreau: Resistance to Civil Government

“I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and bones and blood, to be locked up.”

·         A person cannot be

locked up if his mind is free

PARADOX: statements that seem contradictory, but actually contain truth

Henry David Thoreau: Resistance to Civil Government

“I saw that if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as I was.”

·         Hard to break free from conformity (more trapped)

Henry David Thoreau: Resistance to Civil Government

“I felt as if I alone of all my townsmen had paid my tax.”

·         Call attention to something that is wrong in society; you do something good

Henry David Thoreau: Resistance to Civil Government