Today’s post is a compilation of quotes for reflection. from Henry David Thoreau’s “Life Without Principle,” printed as published in 1862. They speak for themselves with no needed additional comment from me.
“If a man walk in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer; but if he spends his whole day as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making earth bald before her time, he is esteemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.”
“If I should sell both my forenoons and afternoons to society, as most appear to do, I am sure that for me there would be nothing left worth living for. I trust that I shall never thus sell my birthright for a mess of pottage.
“I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious and yet not spend his time well. You must get your living by loving.”
“If the laborer gets no more than wages which his employer pays him, he is cheated; he cheats himself.”
“The aim of the laborer should be, not to get his living, to get ‘a good job,’ but to perform well a certain work.”
“Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.”
“It is not enough to tell me that you worked hard to get your gold. So does the Devil work hard.”
