...not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I wanted to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to...experience, and be able to give a true account of it." That is, he went into the woods, not because he wished to avoid his fellow men as a misanthrope, but...

...terms, and if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness out of it ; ... .or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it. That the birds which came at his call, the fishes that swam into his hand, the fox that fled to him...

...could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. ... I wanted to live deep, and suck out all the marrow...to give a true account of it in my next excursion." Why did he choose Wai den for the scene of his voluntary isolation ? Hear him : " Why, here is Walden,...

...cheaply nor to live dearly there, but to transact some private business with the fewest obstacles. ... I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,...to give a true account of it in my next excursion." Walden was, in fact, to Thoreau what Brook Farm was to others of the transcendentalists — a retreat...

...not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted...to give a true account of it in my next excursion." "Able to give a true account of it in my next excursion" — that journey made with closed eyes and...

...so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and cut close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it...to give a true account of it in my next excursion." In order to put into effect to the utmost these ideals and purposes he did about everything for himself...

...seclusion at Walden pond was made in 1845. His purpose was " to front only the essential facts of life. To reduce it to its lowest terms, and if it proved to...world, or if it were sublime to know it by experience." It will be observed that the relationship of man to man was an irrelevant factor in forming a true...

...to its Iowest teruis, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine uieanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if...and be able to give a true account of it in my next, exciirsion. For niost men, it appears to nie, are in a stränge uncertainty about it, whether it is...

...than many words about him. He thus gives his reasons for going to live in the woods by Walden Pond: I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,...to give a true account of it in my next excursion. And a little further on in the same chapter : Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has...

...the equal certainty of everlasting life.2 HENRY DAVID THOREAU (1817-1862) I WENT to the woods [1845] because I wished to live deliberately, to front only...to give a true account of it in my next excursion. . . . Our life is frittered away by detail. . . . Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity ! I say, let your...