Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to…

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

Unsourced

This seems to be a paraphrase and alteration of his statement in Walden (1854): “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.”

Other Henry David Thoreau Quotes

The rush to California, for instance, and the attitude, not merely of merchants, but of philosophers and prophets, so called, in relation to it, reflect the greatest disgrace on mankind. That so many are ready to live by luck, and so get the means of commanding the labor of others less lucky, without contributing any value to society! - View Quote Details on The rush to California, for instance, and the attitude, not…
Some old poet’s grand imagination is imposed on us as adamantine everlasting truth, and God’s own word! Pythagoras says, truly enough, “A true assertion respecting God, is an assertion of God”; but we may well doubt if there is any example of this in literature. - View Quote Details on Some old poet’s grand imagination is imposed on us as…
Of what significance the things you can forget? A little thought is sexton to all the world. - View Quote Details on Of what significance the things you can forget? A little…
It is remarkable that among all the preachers there are so few moral teachers. The prophets are employed in excusing the ways of men. - View Quote Details on It is remarkable that among all the preachers there are…
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. - View Quote Details on If I knew for a certainty that a man was…
If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things. - View Quote Details on If you can speak what you will never hear, if…
I do not wish to kill nor to be killed, but I can foresee circumstances in which both these things would be by me unavoidable. We preserve the so-called peace of our community by deeds of petty violence every day. Look at the policeman’s billy and handcuffs! Look at the jail! Look at the gallows! Look at the chaplain of the regiment! We are hoping only to live safely on the outskirts of this provisional army. So we defend ourselves and our hen-roosts, and maintain slavery. I know that the mass of my countrymen think that the only righteous use that can be made of Sharp’s rifles and revolvers is to fight duels with them, when we are insulted by other nations, or to hunt Indians, or shoot fugitive slaves with them, or the like. I think that for once the Sharp’s rifles and the revolvers were employed in a righteous cause. The tools were in the hands of one who could use them. - View Quote Details on I do not wish to kill nor to be killed,…
We are apt to imagine that this hubbub of Philosophy, Literature, and Religion, which is heard in pulpits, lyceums, and parlors, vibrates through the universe, and is as catholic a sound as the creaking of the earth’s axle. But if a man sleeps soundly, he will forget it all between sunset and dawn. - View Quote Details on We are apt to imagine that this hubbub of Philosophy,…
Perhaps I am more than usually jealous with respect to my freedom. I feel that my connection with and obligation to society are still very slight and transient. Those slight labors which afford me a livelihood, and by which it is allowed that I am to some extent serviceable to my contemporaries, are as yet commonly a pleasure to me, and I am not often reminded that they are a necessity. So far I am successful. But I foresee, that, if my wants should be much increased, the labor required to supply them would become a drudgery. If I should sell both my forenoons and afternoons to society, as most appear to do, I am sure, that, for me, there would be nothing left worth living for. - View Quote Details on Perhaps I am more than usually jealous with respect to…
It is so rare to meet with a man out-doors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands. - View Quote Details on It is so rare to meet with a man out-doors…