“I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear.”

“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...”

“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”

“My purpose in going to Walden Pondwas not to live cheaply nor to live dearly therebut to transact some private business,with the fewest obstacles…It's a good place for business...it offers advantageswhich it may not be good policy to divulge.”

“As to conforming outwardly and living your own life inwardly, I do not think much of that.”

“We live a short period of time in this world, but we live it according to the laws of eternal life.”

“The sail, the play of its pulse so like our own lives: so thin and yet so full of life, so noiseless when it labors hardest, so noisy and impatient when least effective.”