henry david thoreau

"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 life what was not life, living is so dear; not 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 os 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."