Living Deliberately.

“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.”

The bolded portion of this timeless excerpt is one of the most quoted segments from Thoreau’s Walden. But, as with most of Thoreau’s work, it is often misinterpreted and misrepresented by those who bear the quote on their social media profiles as Thoreau claiming that “real” life only happens in the wilderness. As with any literature, you are free to interpret this phrase as you wish, but I believe it to be important to look more critically at not just the popular bolded portion, but the rest of the passage it introduces, for this misunderstanding comes from a belief that Thoreau wants us to abandon modern life to live in huts, when what he is actually getting at, I believe, is much more profound.

I want to start with calling attention to the specific adjective Thoreau chose to describe this lifestyle he wished to practice — he wished to live deliberately. Thoreau scholars have posited that if nothing else, one of Thoreau’s greatest strengths as a writer is that he always chooses his…