A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.
I am no more lonely than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond itself. I am no more lonely than a single mullein or dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or a housefly, or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Mill Brook, or a weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house.
In my walks I would fain return to my senses. What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?
Yamamoto Tsunetomo·1716There is surely nothing other than the single purpose of the present moment. A man's whole life is a succession of moment after moment. If one fully understands the present moment, there will be nothing else to do, and nothing else to pursue. Live being true to the single purpose of the moment. Everyone lets the present moment slip by, then looks for it as though he thought it were somewhere else.
Henry David Thoreau·1862In my walks I would fain return to my senses. What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?
Pindar·476 BCDo not, my soul, seek immortal life, but exhaust the limits of the possible.
