Walden or, Life in the Woods (6)

Henry David Thoreau. New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc. 1854 (1985).

Why read it? The desire to live close to nature without dependence on material goods. Describes the changing seasons. Offers interesting reflections on modern life.

Quotes and Ideas.

“He had been instructed only in that innocent and ineffectual way in which the Catholic priests teach the aborigines, by which the pupil is never educated to the degree of consciousness, but only to the degree of trust and reverence, and a child is not made a man, but kept a child.” p. 439.

“…Plato’s definition of a man—a biped without feathers.” p. 441.

“Men of one idea….” p. 443.

“…if a man is alive, there is always danger that he may die….” p. 444.

“…reformers, the greatest bores of all….” p. 445.

“Shall I not rejoice also at the abundance of the weeds whose seeds are the granary of the birds?” p. 455.

“In warm evenings I frequently sat in the boat playing the flute, and saw the perch, which I seemed to have charmed, hovering around me, and the moon traveling over the ribbed bottom, which was strewed with the wrecks of the forest.” p. 462.

“A lake is earth’s eye, looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.” p. 471.

“In such a day, in September or October, Walden is a perfect forest mirror….” p. 473.

To be continued.