"A perfectly healthy sentence, it is true,..." - Quote by Henry David Thoreau
A perfectly healthy sentence, it is true, is extremely rare. For the most part we miss the hue and fragrance of the thought; as if we could be satisfied with the dews of the morning or evening without their colors, or the heavens without their azure.
More by Henry David Thoreau
“I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man.”
“It is pleasant to have been to a place the way a river went.”
“Late in the afternoon we passed a man on the shore fishing with a long birch pole.... The characteristics and pursuits of various ages and races of men are always existing in epitome in every neighborhood. The pleasures of my earliest youth have become the inheritance of other men. This man is still a fisher, and belongs to an era in which I myself have lived.”
More on Communication
“If you are considering marriage, ask yourself one question: Will I still enjoy talking with her when I'm old?”
“Proverbs, words, and grammar inflections convey the public sense with more purity and precision, than the wisest individual.”
“You know about a person who deeply interests you more than you can be told. A look, a gesture, an act, which to everybody else is insignificant tells you more about that one than words can.”
More on Language
“Grace me no grace, nor uncle me no uncle;I am no traitor's uncle, and that word "grace"In an ungracious mouth is but profane.”
“An aphorism is not an aphorism unless you know what it means.”
“Many people are intimidated by doctors. ... People also feel stupid when they don't understand what a doctor's talking about the first time around, so they don't ask again. And let's be honest here, people. English is not a doctor's first language.”