Henry David Thoreau Quotes about Expectations

The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred million to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I

The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred million to a poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face? We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

Henry David Thoreau

Sleep, Men, Expectations

Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.142

Perhaps of all our untamed quadrupeds, the fox has obtained the widest and most familiar reputation.... His recent tracks still give variety to a winter's walk. I tread in the steps of the fox that has gone before me by some hours, or which perhaps I have started, with such a tip-toe of expectation as if I were on the trail of the Spirit itself which resides in the wood, and expected soon to catch it in its lair.

Henry David Thoreau

Winter, Expectations, Track

Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Excursions (Annotated Edition)”, p.16, Jazzybee Verlag

We soon get through with nature. She excites an expectation which she cannot satisfy.

Henry David Thoreau

Hope, Expectations

Henry David Thoreau, Odell Shepard (1961). “The Heart of Thoreau's Journals”, p.131, Courier Corporation

Our circumstances answer to our expectations and the demand of our natures.

Henry David Thoreau

Expectations, Answers, Demand

Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.209, Xist Publishing

I seem to have dodged all my days with one or two persons, and lived upon expectation,--as if the bud would surely blossom; and soI am content to live.

Henry David Thoreau

Two, Expectations, Optimism

The universe constantly and obediently answers to our conceptions; whether we travel fast or slow, the track is laid for us.

Henry David Thoreau

Track, Expectations, Answers

Henry David Thoreau (1882). “Walden”, p.153

Fishermen, hunters, woodchoppers, and others, spending their lives in the fields and woods, in a peculiar sense a part of Nature themselves, are often in a more favorable mood for observing her, in the intervals of their pursuits, than philosophers or poets even, who approach her with expectation. She is not afraid to exhibit herself to them.

Henry David Thoreau

Nature, Philosophical, Expectations

Henry David Thoreau (2015). “Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience: Top American Literary”, p.131, 谷月社