The wisdom of Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau has been a favorite writer of mine ever since I first came across him in high school. (He had a locker next to mine.) His starry-eyed idealism spoke to me in a unique and powerful way, and after reading his essay, “Life Without Principle,” I remember thinking, Don’t forget this, don’t forget this. I haven’t; it’s hard to. The essay is a harsh critique of materialism and conformity, and it revisists one of Thoreau’s most characteristic themes: that passion for one’s work is more important than a paycheck.

Thoreau was a radical in the best sense of the word, a staunch defender of living life on one’s own terms. He was also one of the more quotable writers of his time, and I recall Rolf quoting him several times in Vagabonding. I’ll leave you with some of Thoreau’s most enduring lines from “A Life Without Principle.” Read the entire essay for ten million bonus points.

I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living. All great enterprises are self-supporting.

It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work. I cannot easily buy a blank-book to write thoughts in; they are commonly ruled for dollars and cents.

The ways in which most men get their living, that is, live, are mere makeshifts, and a shirking of the real business of life– chiefly because they do not know, but partly because they do not mean, any better.

As we grow old, we live more coarsely, we relax a little in our disciplines, and, to some extent, cease to obey our finest instincts. But we should be fastidious to the extreme of sanity, disregarding the gibes of those who are more unfortunate than ourselves.

Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives.