- "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 practice 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."
- "Men have become the tools of their tools."
- "Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."
- Key points - Less is better, the civilized man is a more experienced and wiser savage, live life fully, self reliance is key, simplicity, anti-consumerism
What I got out of it
- While there is controversy over how true Thoreau was to this lifestyle (some say he visited friends, dined and lived luxuriously for short spurts), it is nonetheless a fascinating book about living minimally, efficiently and naturally. We really need so little to be content and this book is the epitome of that notion. Slow at times but well worth it to get the overall lessons and great quotes.