Essay: Conclusion of Walden. Henry David Thoreau.

One-minute review: Contains some of Thoreau’s memorable statements.

“I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one.” ………. “I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.” ………. “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” ………. “The commonest sense is the sense of men asleep, which they express by snoring.” ………. “If a man does not keep pace with his companion, perhaps he hears a different drummer.” ………. “Say what you have to say, not what you ought.” ………. “The fault-finder will find faults even in Paradise.” ………. “There is an incessant influx of novelty into the world, and yet we tolerate incredible dullness.” ………. “Only that day dawns to which we are awake.”

Memorable ideas and words. Thoreau is the cheerleader for mankind.

Great Essays. Ed. Houston Peterson. New York: Washington Square Press, Inc. 1960.

What is an essay? “They are all prefaces. A preface is nothing but a talk with the reader; and they [essays] do nothing else.” Charles Lamb.