"There is a sort of homely truth..." - Quote by Henry David Thoreau
There is a sort of homely truth and naturalness in some books which is very rare to find, and yet looks cheap enough. There may benothing lofty in the sentiment, or fine in the expression, but it is careless country talk. Homeliness is almost as great a merit in a book as in a house, if the reader would abide there. It is next to beauty, and a very high art. Some have this merit only.
More by Henry David Thoreau
“I am engaged to Concord and my own private pursuits by 10,000 ties, and it would be suicide to rend them.”
“No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well.”
“It must be confessed that horses at present work too exclusively for men, rarely men for horses; and the brute degenerates in man's society.”
More on Writing
More on Books
“One Best Book is Equal To Hundred Good Friends But One Good Friend is Equal To A Library.”
“I want to hold onto this funny thing. God, it's gotten big on me. I don't know what it is. I'm so damned unhappy, I'm so mad, and I don't know why. I feel like I'm putting on weight. I feel fat. I feel like I'm saving a lot of things, and I don't know what. I might even start reading books.”
“A book in which there were no lies would be a curiosity.”