live
deliberately
"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."
- Henry David Thoreau
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."
- Henry David Thoreau
1 comment:
I had to read that a few times first… and then loved it so much I looked up the rest of it. Being an overly wordy person myself I love surgically precise writers like Thoreau.
I also share his love of nature and what we can learn from it (animals too). We idealists hold out great hopes for our society and become frustrated with pettiness and materialism. Here’s the entire poem:
“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. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan- like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion. For most men, it appears to me, are in a strange uncertainty about it, whether it is of the devil or of God, and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to "glorify God and enjoy him forever."
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