"In reading Henry Thoreau's Journal, I am very sensible of the vigor of his constitution. That oaken strength which I noted whenever he walked or worked or surveyed wood lots, the same unhesitating hand with which a field-laborer accosts a piece of work which I should shun as a waste of strength, Henry shows in his literary task. He has muscle, & ventures on & performs tasks which I am forced to decline. In reading him, I find the same thoughts, the same spirit that is in me, but he takes a step beyond, & illustrates by excellent images that which I should have conveyed in a sleepy generality. 'Tis as if I went into a gymnasium, & saw youths leap, climb, & swing with a force unapproachable, — though their feats are only continuations of my initial grapplings & jumps."
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Anarchists from the United StatesAbolitionistsUnitarians from the United States19th-century poets from the United StatesLeft-libertarians
Original Language: English
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Sources
Ralph Waldo Emerson in his journal (24 June 1863)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau
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Henry David Thoreau
1817 – 1862
US-amerikanischer Schriftsteller
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