I told daddy if he gave me a list of his favorite “green” quotes, I’d put them on my blog. Mostly because he doesn’t read my blog and yet always asks me what’s going on in my life. To which I answer, “If you’d read my blog, daddy, you wouldn’t only know what was going on, but could even see pictures of it.” So, this is a bit of a test to see if he actually reads it. (Which I know he doesn’t.) And because all the quotes he gave me I found ironically to be from just one man.
Henry David Thoreau. (1817-1862)
Which is your favorite?
“For many years, I was self-appointed inspector of snow storms and rain storms, and did my duty faithfully, though I never received one cent for it.”
–Journal Feb. 22
“The bluebird carries the sky on his back.”
–Journal April 13, 1852
“Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.”
–Journal Jan. 5, 1856
“Me thinks my own soul must be a bright, invisible green.”
–A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers–Wednesday
“As if our birth had at first sundered things, and we had been thrust up through into nature like a wedge, and not till the wound heals and the scar disappears, do we begin to discover where we are, and that nature is one and continuous everywhere.”
–A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers–Friday
“It is rare to meet with a man outdoors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands.”
–A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers–Friday
“The swiftest traveler is he that goes a foot.”
–Walden (Economy)
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
–Walden (Economy)
Thanks, daddy.
Have a good day, everyone.
Feel free to share your favorite green quote with the rest of us. Or any quote at all, for that matter. I’d really like to read them.
Wonderfully interesting articles on Thoreau:
- “It’s not what … (kenkuykendall.wordpress.com)
- Reading Thoreau (alycevr.wordpress.com)
- Being Henry David: Finding Yourself through Literature (themodernmanuscript.wordpress.com)
- Walden Pond: Thoreau’s Habitat Draws Thousands Of Visitors A Year (boston.cbslocal.com)
- Walden, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Pond (inconversion.wordpress.com)
- Response to Walden: Economy (americandreamerslosersjvs.wordpress.com)
- Leaving Walden (amindfultraveler.wordpress.com)
Attempting zero waste lifestyle in a military household 
I love everything Thoreau wrote. These quotes are the top gems from this man who lived his life according to his principles of the natural world. Thanks for sharing.
I love the bluebird quote – I’d never heard it before. I have two little bluebirds that follow me wherever I move – one that hangs on a wall somewhere and one that sits on a windowsill. I’ve always called them the bluebirds of happiness.
Have you seen the new Young Adult Novel – Being Henry David that was published this past March? It’s a wonderful story that incorporate’s quotes from Walden throughout. An excellent introduction to the next generation of readers.
Such a lovely post! Wow.. I thought I’d seen most Thoreau quotes but you’ve uncovered even more treasures. And since you asked, a new favourite is your third one, that Nature is full of genius. Although how awesome is that fourth one, because I think that my own soul must be a bright, invisible green. Recently I purchased an old copy of Walden from a second-hand bookstore but other books are still distracting me from reading it yet. Your last quote here was the one here I knew previously, and the reason for seeking out that book. Thanks so much for sharing all these! Cheers, Gina
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A quote I have always liked, but I don’t know the author: “Creativity can neither be taught nor mass-produced”.