real. So also, owing to bodily and mental health and strength, we
profaned by any human neighborhood. I believe that men are
there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and
pond, making a very conspicuous and perfectly regular spiral groove
farther than mythology, and she can tell me the original of every
they afford forever! and such sympathy have they ever with our race,
shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house.
AEsculapius, and who is represented on monuments holding a serpent
executed. Next to us is not the workman whom we have hired, with
and left their cards, either a bunch of flowers, or a wreath of
miles of unfrequented forest, for my privacy, abandoned to me by
the field or the woods all day, hoeing or chopping, and not feel
experience we have found that to issue, as the willow stands near
sometimes drinks; but rather of Hebe, cup-bearer to Jupiter, who was
forest into their hands to play with by the way, which they leave,
as well as the forenoon, soothed by their ceaseless roar and
now; the fox, and skunk, and rabbit, now roam the fields and woods
student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as
even without apples or cider -- a most wise and humorous friend,
many thoughts had time to take root and unfold themselves. In those
restoring gods and men to the vigor of youth. She was probably the
"How vast and profound is the influence of the subtile powers of
company; he is legion. I am no more lonely than a single mullein or
may be affected by a theatrical exhibition; on the other hand, I may
doubleness may easily make us poor neighbors and friends sometimes.
spring, when at long intervals some came from the village to fish
never quite at our elbows. The thick wood is not just at our door,
cheerful evening with social mirth and pleasant views of things,
which you put seems to me not to be the most important question.
For what reason have I this vast range and circuit, some square
deluge out, I sat behind my door in my little house, which was all
black-schooner looking wagons which we sometimes see made to carry
bottles, let me have a draught of undiluted morning air. Morning
more. I only know myself as a human entity; the scene, so to speak,
the benefit of those who have lost their subscription ticket to
most of the day without ennui and "the blues"; but he does not
for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all
Yet I experienced sometimes that the most sweet and tender, the
I do not flatter myself, but if it be possible they flatter me. I
human neighborhood insignificant, and I have never thought of them
and original proprietor, who is reported to have dug Walden Pond,
why, then, we must even bottle up some and sell it in the shops, for
that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a
solitude, but once, and that was a few weeks after I came to the
that all Nature would be affected, and the suns brightness fade,
The value of a man is not in his skin, that we should touch him.
sex or age or quality they were by some slight trace left, as a
odor of a cigar or pipe. Nay, I was frequently notified of the
of his pipe.
and fed her health with their decaying fatness. For my panacea,
for pouts -- they plainly fished much more in the Walden Pond of
delights in all weathers and seasons, and is likely to outlive all
dig his cellar.... I one evening overtook one of my townsmen, who
morning, when nobody calls. Let me suggest a few comparisons, that
to my bed, and left him to pick his way through the darkness and the
Heaven and of Earth!"
maids stood ready with mop and pail in front entries to keep the
pelting; when an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which
there was never a traveller passed my house, or knocked at my door,
entry, and thoroughly enjoyed its protection. In one heavy
not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We
long ere that and follow westward the steps of Aurora. I am no
realize that the student, though in the house, is still at work in
life is over, the spectator goes his way. It was a kind of fiction,
"They cause that in all the universe men purify and sanctify
but the devil, he is far from being alone; he sees a great deal of
us, appropriated and fenced in some way, and reclaimed from Nature.
tell if visitors had called in my absence, either by the bended
days of animated life.
from top to bottom, an inch or more deep, and four or five inches
dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that
thunder-shower the lightning struck a large pitch pine across the
fable, and on what fact every one is founded, for the incidents
Natures universal, vegetable, botanic medicines, by which she has
of something kindred to me, even in scenes which we are accustomed
suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society in Nature, in
she has a genius of unequalled fertility, and her memory runs back
in one hand, and in the other a cup out of which the serpent
the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments?
To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and
all hung, and Christianity and candles have been introduced.
by which I can stand as remote from myself as from another. However
intense my experience, I am conscious of the presence and criticism
and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself. At night
mark, now more distinct than ever, where a terrific and resistless
but to the perennial source of our life, whence in all our
since. Every little pine needle expanded and swelled with sympathy
men? My nearest neighbor is a mile distant, and no house is visible
the woods shed their leaves and put on mourning in midsummer, if any
certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this
The indescribable innocence and beneficence of Nature -- of sun
he is buried. An elderly dame, too, dwells in my neighborhood,
lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our
Some of my pleasantest hours were during the long rain-storms in
Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals,
diseased imagination surrounded him, and which he believed to be
cattle to market, who inquired of me how I could bring my mind to
storm but it was AEolian music to a healthy and innocent ear.
kept herself young always, outlived so many old Parrs in her day,
soon retreated, usually with light baskets, and left "the world to
slight insanity in my mood, and seemed to foresee my recovery. In
melancholy, but good for me too. Though it prevents my hoeing them,
if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live.
strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along the
nothing can make life a burden to me. The gentle rain which waters
society, and come to know that we are never alone.
where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that
turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does,
always the same, and indescribably pleasant to all our senses. For
of old time and of new eternity; and between us we manage to pass a
the spring or fall, which confined me to the house for the afternoon
only thoroughly sound-conditioned, healthy, and robust young lady
important and hearty communications. Consider the girls in a
chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be
dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or sorrel, or a horse-fly,
complete. The wildest animals do not repose, but seek their prey
mould myself?
solitary as a dervish in the desert. The farmer can work alone in
my house, an infinite and unaccountable friendliness all at once
of thoughts and affections; and am sensible of a certain doubleness
Nothing can rightly compel a simple and brave man to a vulgar
flower dropped, or a bunch of grass plucked and thrown away, even as
earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart,
indifferent all times and places. The place where that may occur is
"We seek to perceive them, and we do not see them; we seek to
and humanest was not a person nor a villager, that I thought no
cheer us? Confucius says truly, "Virtue does not remain as an
his field, and chopping in his woods, as the farmer in his, and in
its waters. The sun is alone, except in thick weather, when there
most to dwell near to? Not to many men surely, the depot, the
passage of a traveller along the highway sixty rods off by the scent
their own natures, and baited their hooks with darkness -- but they
bolt came down out of the harmless sky eight years ago. Men
wide, as you would groove a walking-stick. I passed it again the
frequently say to me, "I should think you would feel lonesome down
I have heard of a man lost in the woods and dying of famine and
abandoned orphan; it must of necessity have neighbors."
cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts, but
distraction. Nearest to all things is that power which fashions
and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a
object, even for the poor misanthrope and most melancholy man.
evergreen, or a name in pencil on a yellow walnut leaf or a chip.
nor the pond, but somewhat is always clearing, familiar and worn by
This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense,
has accumulated what is called "a handsome property" -- though I
from any place but the hill-tops within half a mile of myown. I
may be continually cheered by a like but more normal and natural
of subtile intelligences. They are everywhere, above us, on our
intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable
I have occasional visits in the long winter evenings, when the
frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war.
with different natures, but this is the place where a wise man will
her children yet.
their being. Next to us the grandest laws are continually being
driving northeast rains which tried the village houses so, when the
spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is
must be where he can "see the folks," and recreate, and, as he
the daughter of Juno and wild lettuce, and who had the power of
exhaustion at the foot of a tree, whose loneliness was relieved by
on the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with the
I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.
andstoned it, and fringed it with pine woods; who tells me stories
whom I love much, who keeps himself more secret than ever did Goffe
woods, when, for an hour, I doubted if the near neighborhood of man
occurred when she was young. A ruddy and lusty old dame, who
not be affected by an actual event which appears to concern me much
either intentionally or accidentally. One has peeled a willow wand,
the very pattering of the drops, and in every sound and sight around
all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trump
the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to
driftwood in the stream, or Indra in the sky looking down on it. I
conscious effort of the mind we can stand aloof from actions and
weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April
time in the morning.
creatures lull the rest with their notes. The repose is never
stroll sometimes, gathering simples and listening to her fables; for
post-office, the bar-room, the meeting-house, the school-house, the
Why should I feel lonely? is not our planet in the Milky Way? This
other day, and was struck with awe on looking up and beholding that
was not essential to a serene and healthy life. To be alone was
thinks, remunerate himself for his days solitude; and hence he
the railroad where it touches the pond on the one hand, and of the
long as to cause the seeds to rot in the ground and destroy the
the grotesque visions with which, owing to bodily weakness, his
to usher in the night, and the note of the whip-poor-will is borne
I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the
potatoes in the low lands, it would still be good for the grass on
invisible to most persons, in whose odorous herb garden I love to
more than if I were the first or last man; unless it were in the
part it is as solitary where I live as on the prairies. It is as
to call wild and dreary, and also that the nearest of blood to me
think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star,
We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the
that ever walked the globe, and wherever she came it was spring.
or Whalley; and though he is thought to be dead, none can show where
sometimes appear to be two, but one is a mock sun. God is alone --
well as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me,
Not my or thy great-grandfathers, but our great-grandmother
the midst of a gentle rain while these thoughts prevailed, I was
lonesome, because he is employed; but when he comes home at night he
Few are their days in the land of the living,
There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst
hear them, and we do not hear them; identified with the substance of
meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of
nights especially." I am tempted to reply to such -- This whole
am conscious of; as if I had a warrant and surety at their hands
With thinking we may be beside ourselves in a sane sense. By a
give up so many of the comforts of life. I answered that I was very
Any prospect of awakening or coming to life to a dead man makes
man should ever for a just cause grieve. Shall I not have
something unpleasant. But I was at the same time conscious of a
fireside every night; we live thick and are in each others way, and
generally still a little afraid of the dark, though the witches are
and wind and rain, of summer and winter -- such health, such cheer,
which my fellows have not, and were especially guided and guarded.
factory -- never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better
place could ever be strange to me again.
air! If men will not drink of this at the fountainhead of the day,
the uplands, and, being good for the grass, it would be good for me.
fence which skirts the woodland road on the other. But for the most
though it may be a more condensed form of it.
and the winds would sigh humanely, and the clouds rain tears, and
of a part of me, which, as it were, is not a part of me, but
stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect
interesting to me. Can we not do without the society of our gossips
wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and
fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes away my breath; yet,
sadness. While I enjoy the friendship of the seasons I trust that
not the blue devils, but the blue angels in it, in the azure tint of
worshipper of Hygeia, who was the daughter of that old herb-doctor
some one may convey an idea of my situation. I am no more lonely
left, on our right; they environ us on all sides."
than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond
and befriended me. I was so distinctly made aware of the presence
waves raised by the evening wind are as remote from storm as the
Beautiful daughter of Toscar."
of Nature and has his senses still. There was never yet such a
blows and roars in the wood, the waves still dash, and some
Sometimes, when I compare myself with other men, it seems as if I
whom we love so well to talk, but the workman whose work we are.
offer sacrifices and oblations to their ancestors. It is an ocean
What is the pill which will keep us well, serene, contented?
never got a fair view of it -- on the Walden road, driving a pair of
their hearts, and clothe themselves in their holiday garments to
smooth reflecting surface. Though it is now dark, the wind still
and the Dead Sea, which come out of those long shallow
intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent
the water and sends out its roots in that direction. This will vary
stony shore of the pond in my shirt-sleeves, though it is cool as
instead of one of those quack vials of a mixture dipped from Acheron
a little while under these circumstances -- have our own thoughts to
They who come rarely to the woods take some little piece of the
can bring two minds much nearer to one another. What do we want
darkness and to me," and the black kernel of the night was never
like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled. These small
have never felt lonesome, or in the least oppressed by a sense of
things, they cannot be separated from them."
When I return to my house I find that visitors have been there
were more favored by the gods than they, beyond any deserts that I
woven it into a ring, and dropped it on my table. I could always
their consequences; and all things, good and bad, go by us like a
like an atmosphere sustaining me, as made the fancied advantages of
twigs or grass, or the print of their shoes, and generally of what
morning time in this world. But remember, it will not keep quite
There is commonly sufficient space about us. Our horizon is
make our occasions. They are, in fact, the cause of our
much Asia or Africa as New England. I have, as it were, my own sun
a work of the imagination only, so far as he was concerned. This
my beans and keeps me in the house today is not drear and
"Mourning untimely consumes the sad;
grocery, Beacon Hill, or the Five Points, where men most congregate,
it is of far more worth than my hoeing. If it should continue so
most innocent and encouraging society may be found in any natural
What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows
no more I than it is you. When the play, it may be the tragedy, of
snow falls fast and the wind howls in the wood, from an old settler
itself. What company has that lonely lake, I pray? And yet it has
and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs
have my horizon bounded by woods all to myself; a distant view of
sure I liked it passably well; I was not joking. And so I went home
till noonday even in the coolest cellar, but drive out the stopples
without fear. They are Natures watchmen -- links which connect the
mud to Brighton -- or Bright-town -- which place he would reach some
torrent. We are not wholly involved in Nature. I may be either the
We are the subjects of an experiment which is not a little
was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more
far off as the railroad, half a mile distant, or by the lingering
or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Mill Brook, or a
