Man cannot afford to be a naturalist, to look at Nature dir… - Henry David Thoreau

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Man cannot afford to be a naturalist, to look at Nature directly, but only with the side of his eye. He must look through and beyond her. To look at her is fatal as to look at the head of Medusa. It turns the man of science to stone.

Henry David Thoreau

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Nature contemplation

English

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About Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau (12 July 1817 – 6 May 1862) was an American essayist, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, and historian. A leading transcendentalist, Thoreau is best known for his book Walden, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and his essay Resistance to Civil Government (also known as Civil Disobedience), an argument for disobedience to an unjust state.

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Also Known As

Birth Name: David Henry Thoreau

Alternative Names: Thoreau • Henry D. Thoreau • Henry Thoreau

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Ralph Waldo Emerson Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Michel de Montaigne Samuel Johnson Robert Louis Stevenson

Additional quotes by Henry David Thoreau

Most men would feel insulted, if it were proposed to employ them in throwing stones over a wall, and then in throwing them back, merely that they might earn their wages. But many are no more worthily employed now.

Every generation laughs at the old fashions, but follows religiously the new.

How silent are the footsteps of Spring!

Man cannot afford to be a naturalist, to look at Nature directly, but only with the side of his eye. He must look through and beyond her. To look at … - Henry David Thoreau

About Henry David Thoreau

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