How we cite our quotes: (Essay.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. (Economy.9)
Most people are miserable, even when they appear to be content. They're stuck in a rut, working for luxuries that they cannot afford. Way to be a total downer, Thoreau.
Quote #2
When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence – that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality. (Where I Lived.21)
For Thoreau, spiritual enlightenment isn't just about knowledge. It's a complete mood-changer, getting you in touch with the true pleasures in life.
Quote #3
The result [of reading trashy books] is dullness of sight, a stagnation of the vital circulations, and a general deliquium and sloughing off of all the intellectual faculties. (Reading.7)
We need good books in order to refine our ability to be happy. Trashy books only dull our senses, turning us into virtual zombies.
Quote #4
This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. (Solitude.1)
Nature is a source of sensory pleasure. Thoreau's word choices – for instance, "delicious" and "imbibes" – help us to further grasp that feeling.
Quote #5
Nothing can rightly compel a simple and brave man to a vulgar sadness. While I enjoy the friendship of the seasons, nothing can make life a burden to me. (Solitude.4)
Thoreau can seem resolutely cheerful. Is it really possible that nothing can make life a burden? Is he indifferent to the genuine pain and suffering that many people experience?
Quote #6
At suitable intervals there were regular salutes of laughter, which might have been referred indifferently to the last uttered or the forth-coming jest. (Former Inhabitants.20)
Translation: we cracked the heck up. True friends are also a source of happiness.
Quote #7
We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us […] and did not spend our days in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring. In a pleasant spring morning, all men's sins are forgiven. (Spring.19)
Spring isn't just a season, for Thoreau. It's a state of mind – a Walden state of mind.
Quote #8
I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. (Conclusion.5)
In the last chapter, Thoreau is much more explicit about what his readers can take away from his personal experiment. For this reason, we get the sense that we're not reading just an autobiography, but also a kind of manual for living.