# Quote — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

> 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 practise 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."

- Author: [Henry David Thoreau](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau.md)
- Book: [Walden](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/walden.md)
- Page: 104
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau#Walden_(1854)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Topics: [life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/life.md), [meaning of life](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life.md)
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/walden/i-went-to-the

## More from this book

> Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star.

p. 375 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/walden/only-that-day.md)

> If I knew for a certainty that a man was coming to my house with the conscious design of doing me good, I should run for my life.

p. 85 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/walden/if-i-knew.md)

Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md)

> Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.

p. 18 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/henry-david-thoreau/walden/most-of-the.md)