Henry David Thoreau Success Quotations

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.

We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success. What we do best or most perfectly is what we have most thoroughly learned by the longest practice, and at length it falls from us without our notice, as a leaf from a tree.

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.

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

It is what a man thinks of himself that really determines his fate.

As for doing good; that is one of the professions which is full. Moreover I have tried it fairly and, strange as it may seem, am satisfied that it does not agree with my constitution.

A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend.

We were born to succeed, not to fail.

I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

I have learned this at least by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dream, and endeavors to live the life which he had imagines, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

If one advances confidently in the direction of one's dreams, and endeavors to live the life which one has imagined, one will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

If one advances confidently in the directions of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.

The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in mind.

There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may obey. We may study the laws of matter at and for our convenience, but a successful life knows no law.

All health and success does me good, however far off and withdrawn it may appear; all disease and failure helps to make me sad anddoes me evil, however much sympathy it may have with me or I with it.

Be assured that every man's success is in proportion to his average ability. The meadow flowers spring and bloom where the watersannually deposit their slime, not where they reach in some freshet only. A man is not his hope, nor his despair, nor yet his past deed. We know not yet what we have done, still less what we are doing. Wait till evening, and other parts of our day's work will shine than we had thought at noon, and we shall discover the real purport of our toil. As when the farmer has reached the end of the furrow and looks back, he can tell best where the pressed earth shines most.

Yet we must try the harder, the less the prospect of success.

Only he is successful in his business who makes that pursuit which affords him the highest pleasure sustain him.

For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once done well is done forever.

You must get your living by loving, or at least half your life is a failure.

Where there is a brave man, in the thickest of the fight, there is the post of honor.

In the long run, you hit only what you aim at.

The life without men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others?

Undoubtedly, in the most brilliant successes, the first rank is always sacrificed.

You fail in your thoughts, or you prevail in your thoughts only.

I should consider it a greater success to interest one wise and earnest soul, than a million unwise and frivolous.

Alas! this is the crying sin of the age, this want of faith in the prevalence of a man. Nothing can be effected but by one man. Hewho wants help wants everything. True, this is the condition of our weakness, but it can never be the means of our recovery. We must first succeed alone, that we may enjoy our success together.

The only fruit which even much living yields seems to be often only some trivial success,--the ability to do some slight thing better. We make conquest only of husks and shells for the most part,--at least apparently,--but sometimes these are cinnamon and spices, you know.