“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, to 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 to be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”
– Henry David Thoreau
I like this quote – a lot – and, when I was younger, I enjoyed the film that it inspired – but these days I not that enamoured of Spartan living – at least not in woods. Woods are OK for visiting, for walking in and listening to birds and stuff – but they seem to be lacking too many essential creature comforts to actually live in. So I’m hoping I can still “live deliberately” while tending my garden and occasionally visiting cafés for some coffee and cake (although I doubt Henry would approve).
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Huw Sayer 