"The world rests on principles...." - Quote by Henry David Thoreau

“I now first began to inhabit my house, I may say, when I began to use it for warmth as well as shelter.”

“We never exchange more than three words with a Friend in our lives on that level to which our thoughts and feelings almost habitually rise.”

“Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government.”

“Truth quenches untruth, love quenches anger, self-suffering quenches violence. This eternal rule is a rule not for saints only but for all.”

“Lean on principles, one day they'll end up giving way.”

“It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right.”

“If in the least particular, one could derange the order of nature, who would accept the gift of life?”

“If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone; if this remains undone, morals and art will deteriorate; if justice goes astray, the people will stand about in helpless confusion. Hence there must be no arbitrariness in what is said. This matters above everything.”

“The cart before the horse is neither beautiful nor useful.”