"I knew that the wall was the..." - Quote by Henry David Thoreau
I knew that the wall was the main thing in Quebec, and had cost a great deal of money.... In fact, these are the only remarkable walls we have in North America, though we have a good deal of Virginia fence, it is true.
More by Henry David Thoreau
“Under the one word "house" are included the schoolhouse, the almshouse, the jail, the tavern, the dwellinghouse; and the meanest shed or cave in which men live contains elements of all these. But nowhere on the earth stands the entire and perfect house.”
“The scenery, when it is truly seen, reacts on the life of the seer. How to live. How to get the most of life.... How to extract its honey from the flower of the world.”
“Fresh curls spring from the baldest brow. There is nothing inorganic.”
More on Observation
“Heliotrope. To be sowed in the spring. A delicious flower, but I suspect it must be planted in boxes and kept in the house in the winter. The smell rewards the care.”
“But these are flowers that fly and all but sing:And now from having ridden out desireThey lie closed over in the wind and clingWhere wheels have freshly sliced the April mire.”
“Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn't matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.”
More on History
“Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object”
“The Parthenon is really only a farmyard over which someone put a roof; colonades and sculptures were added because there were people in Athens who happened to be working and wanted to express themselves.”
“Classes struggle, some classes triumph, others are eliminated. Such is history; such is the history of civilization for thousands of years.”