Thoreau’s one-liners

Thoreau’s gift for aphorism is well-known, but those that are buried in the Journal are likely to be much less familiar than those that found a place in Walden. Here are a few examples from Greg Perry’s Blog of Henry David Thoreau:

I should not be ashamed to have a shrub oak for my coat-of-arms.

You must love the crust of the earth on which you dwell more than the sweet crust of any bread or cake.

Our work should be fitted to and lead on the time, as bud, flower, and fruit lead the circle of the seasons.

Corn grows in the night.

If you would obtain insight, avoid anatomy.

River towns are winged towns.

Genius is like the snapping-turtle, born with a great developed head.

It is monstrous when one cares but little about trees but much about Corinthian columns, and yet this is exceedingly common.