Literature is the most powerful form of empathy.

I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to put to rout all that was not life.

We are all born with a certain package. We are who we are: where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. We're kind of stuck inside that person, and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize a little bit with other people.

The highest form of theory is the ability to simplify complex things into simple and clear principles.