Henry David Thoreau

Reflections at Walden includes Thoreau?s account of how he lived and what he learned during his two years at Walden. We can profit from some of his discoveries:?In proportion as [a man] simplifies his life,? writes Thoreau,?the laws of the universe will appear less complex.? Later he says,?There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of nature." These principles governed Thoreau's life. And in all the writings included here...

The Service is an essay written in 1840 by Henry David Thoreau. He submitted it to The Dial for publication, but they declined to print it. It was not published until after Thoreau's death. The essay uses war and military discipline as metaphors that, as Thoreau would have it, can instruct us in how to order and conduct our lives. The Service is in part a contrarian swipe at the many pacifist writers and lecturers whose teachings on "nonresistance"...