Tuesday, March 1, 2011

this chopping sea







"In the midst of this chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand-and-one items to be allowed for, that a man has to live, if he would not founder and go to the bottom and not make his port at all, by dead reckoning, and he must be a great calculator indeed who succeeds. Simplify, simplify."

- From "Walden, or Life in the Woods" by Henry David Thoreau


First published in 1854 and considered the progenitor of all "nature" books in this country, Walden sold poorly at first. (An author's nightmare.) It wasn't until after Thoreau's death in 1862, that the world discovered its wisdom. Needless to say, today 157 years later, it's still in print. (An author's dream.)


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