How we cite our quotes: (Essay.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails. (Where I Lived.22)
Thoreau tells us he went to the woods to "live deliberately," and this quote explains that Nature itself can provide a model for how to do just that.
Quote #2
Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe, through Paris and London, through New York and Boston and Concord, through church and state, through poetry, philosophy and religion, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality (Where I Lived.22)
Natural metaphors are everywhere in Walden. Prejudice and opinion aren't literally made out of mud, but, by comparing them to mud, we get a sense of how difficult it can be to get past them. This would be a really easy place to make a Thoreau-is-a-stick-in-the-mud joke, but we like the guy, so we'll keep quiet.
Quote #3
In the midst of a gentle rain while these thoughts prevailed, I was suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society in Nature, in the very pattering of the drops, and in every sound and sight around my house, an infinite and unaccountable friendliness all at once like an atmosphere sustaining me, as made the fancied advantage of human neighborhood insignificant (Solitude.4)
Our author will often personify Nature, as in this quote, where he gives it the human quality of "friendliness." Have you ever thought of Nature as friendly, or, on the other hand, mean or distant?
Quote #4
What right had I to oust johnswort and the rest, and break up their ancient herb garden? (Bean-Field.1)
Thoreau is hesitant about gardening. In order to clear ground for his fields, he has to uproot the native plant species of the area. (Yes, johnswort = St. John's wort. You've probably seen the commercials.) Once again, people are making a living off of the natural world that Thoreau loves.
Quote #5
There have been caught in Walden, pickerel, one weighing seven pounds, to say nothing of another which carried off a reel with great velocity […] perch, and pouts, some of each weighing over two pounds, shiners, chivins, or roach, (Leuciscus puchellus,) a very few breams, (Pomotis obesus,) one trout weighing a little over five pounds (Ponds.14)
Walden contains some meticulous documenting of all the different species that live in the area. Thoreau often takes on a naturalist's scientific tone, as here, where he cites the genus and species of the fish. Don't worry, though, these scientific moments are mixed up with more poetic or literary moments, making Walden a rather varied read.
Quote #6
A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. (Ponds.16)
By personifying nature, Thoreau can more easily show how it can be a source of inspiration and enlightenment. Naturally, we relate more easily to things like us, so giving nature some human characteristics allows us to better understand it.
Quote #7
My Muse may be excused if she is silent henceforth. How can you expect the birds to sing when their groves are cut down? (Ponds.23)
A Muse is the person or thing that inspires a poet's work. So, Thoreau bemoans the fact that many of the woods around Walden Pond have been chopped up, because there's nothing left for a poet to celebrate. We should conserve nature not only for ecological reasons, but for literary ones as well.
Quote #8
Grow wild according to thy nature, like these sedges and brakes, which will never become English hay. (Baker Farm.8)
Thoreau's nature is "wild," not the kind of domesticated nature you might find in a farm or a park – or a petting zoo.
Quote #9
The hare in its extremity cries like a child. I warn you, mothers, that my sympathies do not always make the usual phil-anthropic distinctions. (Higher Laws.3)
Like many vegetarians, Thoreau won't eat meat because he feels that animals experience pain and suffering just as humans do.
Quote #10
We are conscious of an animal in us, which awakens in proportion as our higher nature slumbers. It is reptile and sensual, and perhaps cannot be wholly expelled; like the worms which, even in life and health, occupy our bodies. (Higher Laws.11)
While most of the time "nature" stands for all that is good in the world, there are times, such as this, when Thoreau speaks of our animal nature in negative terms.
Quote #11
This was his looning, -- perhaps the wildest sound that is ever heard here, making the woods ring far and wide. I concluded that he laughed in derision of my efforts, confident of his own resources. (Brute Neighbors.17)
Thoreau often personifies animals as well. Here, Thoreau gets out-witted by a loon. Before you laugh, try and catch one yourself.
Quote #12
I would that our farmers when they cut down a forest felt some of that awe which the old Romans did when they came to thin, or let light to, a consecrated grove, (lucum conlucare) that is, would believe that it is sacred to some god. (House-Warming.13)
According to Thoreau, we should conserve nature because it is sacred and necessary to humanity. Nature isn't something to be used irresponsibly. It seems that, at a point in history, humans were aware of this, but we've since lost that lovin' feeling.