"To what end do I lead a..." - Quote by Henry David Thoreau

To what end do I lead a simple life at all, pray? That I may teach others to simplify their lives? - and so all our lives be simplified merely, like an algebraic formula? Or not, rather, that I may make use of the ground I have cleared to live more worthily and profitably?
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More by Henry David Thoreau

“It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live.”
— Henry David Thoreau
“The eye may see for the hand, but not for the mind.”
— Henry David Thoreau
“The necessity of labor and conversation with many men and things to the scholar is rarely well remembered.”
— Henry David Thoreau

More on Simplicity

“Simple people... are very quick to see the live facts which are going on about them.”
— Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.
“Abandon benevolence, discard duty, and people will return to the family ties.”
— Lao Tzu
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”
— Pablo Picasso

More on Purpose

“If you don't like what you're doing, then don't do it.”
— Ray Bradbury
“Live life as if it were created just for you.”
— Maya Angelou
“For all of us, as we grow older, perhaps the most important thing is to keep alive our love of others and to believe that our love and interest are as vitally necessary to them as to us. This is what makes us keep on growing and refills the fountains of energy.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt