Solitude
man should ever for a just cause grieve. Shall I not have
to my bed, and left him to pick his way through the darkness and the
most innocent and encouraging society may be found in any natural
soon retreated, usually with light baskets, and left "the world to
What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows
were more favored by the gods than they, beyond any deserts that I
of subtile intelligences. They are everywhere, above us, on our
object, even for the poor misanthrope and most melancholy man.
or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Mill Brook, or a
cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts, but
The indescribable innocence and beneficence of Nature -- of sun
invisible to most persons, in whose odorous herb garden I love to
some one may convey an idea of my situation. I am no more lonely
by which I can stand as remote from myself as from another. However
their hearts, and clothe themselves in their holiday garments to
place could ever be strange to me again.
complete. The wildest animals do not repose, but seek their prey
for pouts -- they plainly fished much more in the Walden Pond of
why, then, we must even bottle up some and sell it in the shops, for
creatures lull the rest with their notes. The repose is never
the daughter of Juno and wild lettuce, and who had the power of
though it may be a more condensed form of it.
which my fellows have not, and were especially guided and guarded.
part it is as solitary where I live as on the prairies. It is as
and left their cards, either a bunch of flowers, or a wreath of
not be affected by an actual event which appears to concern me much
he is buried. An elderly dame, too, dwells in my neighborhood,
all the elements are unusually congenial to me. The bullfrogs trump
They who come rarely to the woods take some little piece of the
most of the day without ennui and "the blues"; but he does not
only thoroughly sound-conditioned, healthy, and robust young lady
bottles, let me have a draught of undiluted morning air. Morning
mould myself?
make our occasions. They are, in fact, the cause of our
have never felt lonesome, or in the least oppressed by a sense of
fluttering alder and poplar leaves almost takes away my breath; yet,
and befriended me. I was so distinctly made aware of the presence
company; he is legion. I am no more lonely than a single mullein or
Some of my pleasantest hours were during the long rain-storms in
frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war.
and wind and rain, of summer and winter -- such health, such cheer,
that all Nature would be affected, and the suns brightness fade,
Sometimes, when I compare myself with other men, it seems as if I
of thoughts and affections; and am sensible of a certain doubleness
days of animated life.
more. I only know myself as a human entity; the scene, so to speak,
and stoned it, and fringed it with pine woods; who tells me stories
can bring two minds much nearer to one another. What do we want
thinks, remunerate himself for his days solitude; and hence he
intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly leaves and vegetable
think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star,
evergreen, or a name in pencil on a yellow walnut leaf or a chip.
I do not flatter myself, but if it be possible they flatter me. I
shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house.
With thinking we may be beside ourselves in a sane sense. By a
I have occasional visits in the long winter evenings, when the
thunder-shower the lightning struck a large pitch pine across the
twigs or grass, or the print of their shoes, and generally of what
sex or age or quality they were by some slight trace left, as a
left, on our right; they environ us on all sides."
pond, making a very conspicuous and perfectly regular spiral groove
frequently say to me, "I should think you would feel lonesome down
I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the
I have heard of a man lost in the woods and dying of famine and
to call wild and dreary, and also that the nearest of blood to me
the grotesque visions with which, owing to bodily weakness, his
long as to cause the seeds to rot in the ground and destroy the
darkness and to me," and the black kernel of the night was never
fable, and on what fact every one is founded, for the incidents
stroll sometimes, gathering simples and listening to her fables; for
may be continually cheered by a like but more normal and natural
which you put seems to me not to be the most important question.
lonesome, because he is employed; but when he comes home at night he
never got a fair view of it -- on the Walden road, driving a pair of
the water and sends out its roots in that direction. This will vary
if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live.
kept herself young always, outlived so many old Parrs in her day,
nor the pond, but somewhat is always clearing, familiar and worn by
doubleness may easily make us poor neighbors and friends sometimes.
generally still a little afraid of the dark, though the witches are
To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and
than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond
far off as the railroad, half a mile distant, or by the lingering
am conscious of; as if I had a warrant and surety at their hands
the uplands, and, being good for the grass, it would be good for me.
cheer us? Confucius says truly, "Virtue does not remain as an
but to the perennial source of our life, whence in all our
grocery, Beacon Hill, or the Five Points, where men most congregate,
no more I than it is you. When the play, it may be the tragedy, of
woven it into a ring, and dropped it on my table. I could always
many thoughts had time to take root and unfold themselves. In those
there was never a traveller passed my house, or knocked at my door,
till noonday even in the coolest cellar, but drive out the stopples
her children yet.
The value of a man is not in his skin, that we should touch him.
they afford forever! and such sympathy have they ever with our race,
cattle to market, who９９lib.ｎeｔ inquired of me how I could bring my mind to
driftwood in the stream, or Indra in the sky looking down on it. I
bolt came down out of the harmless sky eight years ago. Men
solitary as a dervish in the desert. The farmer can work alone in
and humanest was not a person nor a villager, that I thought no
waves raised by the evening wind are as remote from storm as the
itself. What company has that lonely lake, I pray? And yet it has
sure I liked it passably well; I was not joking. And so I went home
and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself. At night
men? My nearest neighbor is a mile distant, and no house is visible
society, and come to know that we are never alone.
other day, and was struck with awe on looking up and beholding that
she has a genius of unequalled fertility, and her memory runs back
When I return to my house I find that visitors have been there
What is the pill which will keep us well, serene, contented?
it is of far more worth than my hoeing. If it should continue so
and fed her health with their decaying fatness. For my panacea,
since. Every little pine needle expanded and swelled with sympathy
things, they cannot be separated from them."
much Asia or Africa as New England. I have, as it were, my own sun
pelting; when an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which
and the winds would sigh humanely, and the clouds rain tears, and
conscious effort of the mind we can stand aloof from actions and
We are the subjects of an experiment which is not a little
"Mourning untimely consumes the sad;
never quite at our elbows. The thick wood is not just at our door,
entry, and thoroughly enjoyed its protection. In one heavy
air! If men will not drink of this at the fountainhead of the day,
even without apples or cider -- a most wise and humorous friend,
Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals,
and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a
turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does,
smooth reflecting surface. Though it is now dark, the wind still
interesting to me. Can we not do without the society of our gossips
I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.
certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this
like an atmosphere sustaining me, as made the fancied advantages of
that ever walked the globe, and wherever she came it was spring.
time in the morning.
wide, as you would groove a walking-stick. I passed it again the
Yet I experienced sometimes that the most sweet and tender, the
there, and want to be nearer to folks, rainy and snowy days and
spectator, sharing no experience, but taking note of it, and that is
instead of one of those quack vials of a mixture dipped from Acheron
give up so many of the comforts of life. I answered that I was very
solitude, but once, and that was a few weeks after I came to the
AEsculapius, and who is represented on monuments holding a serpent
dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or sorrel, or a horse-fly,
has accumulated what is called "a handsome propert99lib.nety" -- though I
with different natures, but this is the place where a wise man will
the spring or fall, which confined me to the house for the afternoon
as well as the forenoon, soothed by their ceaseless roar and
a little while under these circumstances -- have our own thoughts to
important and hearty communications. Consider the girls in a
intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent
life is over, the spectator goes his way. It was a kind of fiction,
offer sacrifices and oblations to their ancestors. It is an ocean
us, appropriated and fenced in some way, and reclaimed from Nature.
exhaustion at the foot of a tree, whose loneliness was relieved by
For what reason have I this vast range and circuit, some square
suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society in Nature, in
long ere that and follow westward the steps of Aurora. I am no
of old time and of new eternity; and between us we manage to pass a
Few are their days in the land of the living,
forest into their hands to play with by the way, which they leave,
maids stood ready with mop and pail in front entries to keep the
like the lake, my serenity is rippled but not ruffled. These small
factory -- never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better
realize that the student, though in the house, is still at work in
occurred when she was young. A ruddy and lusty old dame, who
the very pattering of the drops, and in every sound and sight around
in one hand, and in the other a cup out of which the serpent
distraction. Nearest to all things is that power which fashions
post-office, the bar-room, the meeting-house, the school-house, the
slight insanity in my mood, and seemed to foresee my recovery. In
flower dropped, or a bunch of grass plucked and thrown away, even as
from top to bottom, an inch or more deep, and four or five inches
sometimes drinks; but rather of Hebe, cup-bearer to Jupiter, who was
his field, and chopping in his woods, as the farmer in his, and in
the railroad where it touches the pond on the one hand, and of the
their being. Next to us the grandest laws are continually being
have my horizon bounded by woods all to myself; a distant view of
lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our
cheerful evening with social mirth and pleasant views of things,
from any place but the hill-tops within half a mile of my own. I
black-schooner looking wagons which we sometimes see made to carry
Why should I feel lonely? is not our planet in the Milky Way? This
a work of the imagination only, so far as he was concerned. This
morning, when nobody calls. Let me suggest a few comparisons, that
sadness. While I enjoy the friendship of the seasons I trust that
storm but it was AEolian music to a healthy and innocent ear.
intense my experience, I am conscious of the presence and criticism
morning time in this world. But remember, it will not keep quite
spring, when at long intervals some came from the village to fish
driving northeast rains which tried the village houses so, when the
all hung, and Christianity and candles have been intr9９ｌib.neｔoduced.
wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and
but the devil, he is far from being alone; he sees a great deal of
nothing can make life a burden to me. The gentle rain which waters
hear them, and we do not hear them; identified with the substance of
the woods shed their leaves and put on mourning in midsummer, if any
Heaven and of Earth!"
earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart,
whom I love much, who keeps himself more secret than ever did Goffe
either intentionally or accidentally. One has peeled a willow wand,
diseased imagination surrounded him, and which he believed to be
to usher in the night, and the note of the whip-poor-will is borne
woods, when, for an hour, I doubted if the near neighborhood of man
tell if visitors had called in my absence, either by the bended
was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more
snow falls fast and the wind howls in the wood, from an old settler
delights in all weathers and seasons, and is likely to outlive all
strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself. As I walk along the
profaned by any human neighborhood. I believe that men are
miles of unfrequented forest, for my privacy, abandoned to me by
their own natures, and baited their hooks with darkness -- but they
the midst of a gentle rain while these thoughts prevailed, I was
the benefit of those who have lost their subscription ticket to
mud to Brighton -- or Bright-town -- which place he would reach some
abandoned orphan; it must of necessity have neighbors."
of Nature and has his senses still. There was never yet such a
real. So also, owing to bodily and mental health and strength, we
my house, an infinite and unaccountable friendliness all at once
may be affected by a theatrical exhibition; on the other hand, I may
deluge out, I sat behind my door in my little house, which was all
now; the fox, and skunk, and rabbit, now roam the fields and woods
for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all
worshipper of Hygeia, who was the daughter of that old herb-doctor
sometimes appear to be two, but one is a mock sun. God is alone --
experience we have found that to issue, as the willow stands near
fence which skirts the woodland road on the other. But for the most
stony shore of the pond in my shirt-sleeves, though it is cool as
whom we love so well to talk, but the workman whose work we are.
without fear. They are Natures watchmen -- links which connect the
"They cause that in all the universe men purify and sanctify
torrent. We are not wholly involved in Nature. I may be either the
or Whalley; and though he is thought to be dead, none can show where
odor of a cigar or pipe. Nay, I was frequently notified of the
nights especially." I am tempted to reply to such -- This whole
of his pipe.
fireside every night; we live thick and are in each others way, and
"How vast and profound is the influence of the subtile powers of
the field or the woods all day, hoeing or chopping, and not feel
dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the compani９９ｌib•ｎｅｔon that
We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the
stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect
always the same, and indescribably pleasant to all our senses. For
"We seek to perceive them, and we do not see them; we seek to
on the rippling wind from over the water. Sympathy with the
Any prospect of awakening or coming to life to a dead man makes
of something kindred to me, even in scenes which we are accustomed
most to dwell near to? Not to many men surely, the depot, the
executed. Next to us is not the workman whom we have hired, with
was not essential to a serene and healthy life. To be alone was
that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a
the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments?
something unpleasant. But I was at the same time conscious of a
Beautiful daughter of Toscar."
meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of
chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be
weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April
Natures universal, vegetable, botanic medicines, by which she has
Not my or thy great-grandfathers, but our great-grandmother
and original proprietor, who is reported to have dug Walden Pond,
of a part of me, which, as it were, is not a part of me, but
indifferent all times and places. The place where that may occur is
There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst
melancholy, but good for me too. Though it prevents my hoeing them,
Nothing can rightly compel a simple and brave man to a vulgar
its waters. The sun is alone, except in thick weather, when there
human neighborhood insignificant, and I have never thought of them
passage of a traveller along the highway sixty rods off by the scent
not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We
farther than mythology, and she can tell me the original of every
more than if I were the first or last man; unless it were in the
my beans and keeps me in the house today is not drear and
not the blue devils, but the blue angels in it, in the azure tint of
well as cloudy and windy, and I see nothing special to attract me,
potatoes in the low lands, it would still be good for the grass on
the most part we allow only outlying and transient circumstances to
and the Dead Sea, which come out of those long shallow
blows and roars in the wood, the waves still dash, and some
student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as
There is commonly sufficient space about us. Our horizon is
This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense,
and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs
where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that
their consequences; and all things, good and bad, go by us like a
dig his cellar.... I one evening overtook one of my townsmen, who
must be where he can "see the folks," and recreate, and, as he
mark, now more distinct than ever, where a terrific and resistless
restoring gods and men to the vigor of youth. She was probably the