"I
was never molested by any person but those who represented the state."
"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something."
"If you would convince a man that he does wrong, do right. Men will believe what they see."
"Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it."
"There is no remedy for love but to love more."...Journal, July 25, 1839
"He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate." Journal, February 11, 1840
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."Walden, Conclusion, 1854
"Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them."Walden: Economy, 1854
"Man is the artificer of his own happiness." Journal, January 21, 1838
"Goodness is the only investment that never fails." Walden: Higher Laws, 1854
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor."
"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
"That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest."
"[Water is] the only drink for a wise man."
"Men are born to succeed, not fail."
"It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes...Walden, 1854
"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book." Walden: Reading, 1854