Henry David Thoreau Quotes about Truth

It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.

It takes two to speak the truth: one to speak, and another to hear.

Henry David Thoreau

Funny, Wisdom, Truth

A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849)

Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower into a truth.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Flower, One Day

Henry David Thoreau (1999). “Uncommon Learning: Thoreau on Education”, p.96, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The rarest quality in an epitaph is truth.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Cynical, Quality

Henry David Thoreau, Carl Hovde (1980). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.170, Princeton University Press

It is not enough that we are truthful; we must cherish and carry out high purposes to be truthful about.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Integrity, Purpose

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.1140, Delphi Classics

Here or nowhere is our heaven.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Heaven, Existence

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.718, Simon and Schuster

No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Giving, Lasts

Henry David Thoreau (1999). “Uncommon Learning: Thoreau on Education”, p.59, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Honesty, Believe

Henry David Thoreau, Nancy L. Rosenblum (1996). “Thoreau: Political Writings”, p.97, Cambridge University Press

I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Wine, Boards

Henry David Thoreau (2009). “Walden”, p.214, Cosimo, Inc.

No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America. They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators, politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day. We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth which it may utter, or any heroism it may inspire. Our legislators have not yet learned the comparative value of free trade and of freedom, of union, and of rectitude, to a nation.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Men, America

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.301, Simon and Schuster

Tom Hyde, the tinker, standing on the gallows, was asked if he had anything to say. "Tell the tailors," said he, "to remember to make a knot in their thread before they take the first stitch." His companion's prayer is forgotten.

Henry David Thoreau

Prayer, Truth, Firsts

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.514, Delphi Classics

As for the tenets of the Brahmans, we are not so much concerned to know what doctrines they held, as that they were held by any. We can tolerate all philosophies.... It is the attitude of these men, more than any communication which they make, that attracts us.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Attitude, Philosophy

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Essential Thoreau”, p.547, Simon and Schuster

I only desire sincere relations with the worthiest of my acquaintance, that they may give me an opportunity once in a year to speak the truth.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Opportunity, Years

Henry David Thoreau, Jeffrey S. Cramer (2007). “I to Myself: An Annotated Selection from the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau”, p.163, Yale University Press

Fame itself is but an epitaph; as late, as false, as true.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Fame, Late

Henry David Thoreau (2016). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.120, Xist Publishing

He who cannot exaggerate is not qualified to utter truth.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Exaggeration, Qualified

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “The Selected Essays of Henry David Thoreau”, p.95, Simon and Schuster

How sweet it would be to treat men and things, for an hour, for just what they are!

Henry David Thoreau

Sweet, Truth, Integrity

Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.361, Penguin

It is a momentous fact that a man may be good, or he may be bad; his life may be true, or it may be false; it may be either a shame or a glory to him. The good man builds himself up; the bad man destroys himself.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Men, Evil

Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Familiar Letters (Annotated Edition)”, p.133, Jazzybee Verlag

I say beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes.

Henry David Thoreau

Change, Truth, Clothes

1854 Walden, or Life in the Woods,'Economy'.

If we dealt only with the false and dishonest, we should at last forget how to speak truth.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Lasts, Speak

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.205, Delphi Classics

Severe truth is expressed with some bitterness.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, I Am Sorry, Bitterness

Henry David Thoreau (2006). “Thoreau and the Art of Life: Precepts and Principles”, p.74, Heron Dance Press

Truth never turns to rebuke falsehood; her own straightforwardness is the severest correction.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Turns, Rebuke

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers”, p.247, Courier Corporation

Men are probably nearer the essential truth in their superstitions than in their science.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Men, Gambling

Henry David Thoreau (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated)”, p.2300, Delphi Classics

Expect no trivial truth from me, unless I am on the witness- stand. I will come as near to lying as you can drive a coach and four.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Lying, Law

Henry David Thoreau (2012). “The Portable Thoreau”, p.366, Penguin

What stuff is the man made of who is not coexistent in our thought with the purest and sublimest truth?

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Character, Men

The volatile truth of our words should continually betray the inadequacy of the residual statement.

Henry David Thoreau

Truth, Betrayal, Our Words

Henry David Thoreau (2014). “Citizen Thoreau: Walden, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Slavery in Massachusetts, A Plea for Captain John Brown”, p.190, Graphic Arts Books