A temple, you know, was anciently "an open place without a roof," whose walls served merely to shut out the world and direct the mind toward heaven; but a modern meeting-house shuts out the heavens, while it crowds the world into still closer quarters.


Letters to Various Persons (ed. 1865)

Henry David Thoreau Quotes

A temple, you know, was anciently an open place without a roof, whose walls served merely to shut out the world and direct the mind toward heaven;...

A temple, you know, was anciently an open place without a roof, whose walls served merely to shut out the world and direct the mind toward heaven;...

A temple, you know, was anciently an open place without a roof, whose walls served merely to shut out the world and direct the mind toward heaven;...

A temple, you know, was anciently an open place without a roof, whose walls served merely to shut out the world and direct the mind toward heaven;...