"Water is a pioneer which the settler..." - Quote by Henry David Thoreau

“We boast of our system of education, but why stop at schoolmasters and schoolhouses? We are all schoolmasters, and our schoolhouse is the universe. To attend chiefly to the desk or schoolhouse while we neglect the scenery in which it is placed is absurd. If we do not look out we shall find our find schoolhouse standing in a cow-yard at last.”

“Far travel, very far travel, or travail, comes near to the worth of staying at home.”

“As for men, they will hardly fail one anywhere. I had more visitors while I lived in the woods than at any other period of my life; I mean that I had some.”

“The two most beautiful sights I have witnessed in my life are a full blown ship at sail and the round-bellied pregnant female.”

“The bed of flowersLoosens amain,The beauteous snowdropsDroop o'er the plain.The crocus opensIts glowing bud,Like emeralds others,Others, like blood.With saucy gesturePrimroses flare,And roguish violets,Hidden with care;And whatsoeverThere stirs and strives,The Spring's contented,If works and thrives.”

“This was sheer idleness to my fellow-townsmen, no doubt; but if the birds and flowers had tried me by their standard, I should not have been found wanting. A man must find his occasions in himself, it is true. The natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his indolence.”

“The earth has enough resources for our need, but not for our greed.”

“I see an America whose rivers and valleys and lakes hills and streams and plains the mountains over our land and nature's wealth deep under the earth are protected as the rightful heritage of all the people.”

“An army which cannot be regularly recruited is a doomed army.”