Skip to content

Misquoting Thoreau

October 12, 2018

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essemtial 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.

-Henry David Thoreau

When Thoreau “went to the woods,” he stayed for 2 years, 2 months and 2 days. He built his own cabin on land owned by his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was a place known as Walden Pond and is near Concord, Massachusetts.

I don’t intend to spend nearly that long. And I’m not going to the woods. And I won’t be building a cabin.

But. . .

Thoreau’s quote calls to me this week. So, I shall go to the mountains because I wish to avoid distractions, to carry with me the essentials of life, and see if I could not what it had to teach, and not when I die, discover I had not lived.

Well, I’ll be camping this weekend at 6,000 feet in the snow, so hopefully the death part will come later rather than sooner.

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.

Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com

(c) 2018 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved

One Comment

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. So How Was The Camping Trip? | Rodney M Bliss

Leave a Reply