Henry David Thoreau spent his life in thoughtful observation of man, society and nature. Understanding the life of Thoreau, and some illuminating quotes from Thoreau, will help you discover how Thoreau became one of America's first and most ardent environmentalists.
The Early Life of Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was born July 12, 1817, in the town of Concord, Massachusetts, about 20 miles west of Boston. At the time, the Concord area was still surrounded by dense forests, lakes and streams.
The natural world had a profound influence on Thoreau for the rest of his life. One of his earliest memories, he wrote, was of "looking through the stars to see if I could see God behind them."
Thoreau's family made their living by making pencils, a craft that Thoreau would return to from time to time during his life, since he was never able to make much money as a writer, teacher or poet. A studious youth, he attended Harvard University, and began teaching back in Concord after graduation.
Thoreau and Emerson
But teaching never suited him, and an encounter with Ralph Waldo Emerson, who had settled in Concord, set Thoreau's life on a new course. The philosopher and poet encouraged Thoreau's writing, and in 1845, a 28-year-old Thoreau moved to a plot of land near Walden Pond to concentrate on reading and writing.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
The two years Thoreau lived in a small cabin near Walden Pond proved to be a pivotal point in his life, culminating in his classic tale of simple, natural living, Walden. During his stay at Walden, he was arrested for failing to pay taxes and spent a night in jail. This experience led Thoreau to write another literary milestone, Civil Disobedience (also known as Resistance to Civil Government).
Thoreau was never in good health, and in 1862 he died of tuberculosis at age 44. His immense volumes of diaries, as well as his poems and essays, reveal Thoreau to be a master at translating the beauty of the natural world into verse. The following quotes show why Thoreau inspired philosophers and leaders as diverse as Mahatma Gandhi, John Muir, Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy.
Quotations by Thoreau
Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand.
All men are children, and of one family. The same tale sends them all to bed, and wakes them in the morning.
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
My life is like a stroll upon the beach, As near the ocean's edge as I can go.
That man is richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
Men and boys are learning all kinds of trades but how to make men of themselves. They learn to make houses; but they are not so well housed, they are not so contented in their houses, as the woodchucks in their holes. What is the use of a house if you haven't got a tolerable planet to put it on?
Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them.
Our life is frittered away by detail ... simplify, simplify.
Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.
It is in vain to dream of a wildness distant from ourselves.
An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Have no mean hours, but be grateful for every hour, and accept what it brings.
How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
Beware of all enterprises that require a new set of clothes.
In wilderness is the preservation of the world.
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.
Be not simply good; be good for something.
