Henry David Thoreau's Legacy

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life. And see if I could not learn what it had to teach and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” - Henry David Thoreau, Walden. This is perhaps Thoreau’s most famous quote, which now resides on a sign at Walden Pond. Thoreau’s legacy in both literature and philosophy is still immense today. Through Walden, Thoreau’s introduced his ideas in relation to transcendentalism to public thought and discussion, leaving a continuous impression. He constantly challenged accepted norms and philosophical ideas within society. Many of Thoreau’s works, such as Walden and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, have been regarded as classic pieces

That being said, Thoreau was never completely atheistic, so to speak. He explained in Walden, “I found in myself, and still find, an instinct toward a higher, or, as it is named, spiritual life, as do most men, and another toward a primitive rank and savage one, and I reverence them both. I love the wild not less than the good.” While Thoreau could certainly appreciate “spiritual life”, he dared to look beyond religion in order to find meaning and purpose in his life. He did sometimes, as a matter of fact, go so far as to harshly criticise religion in certain ways. Thoreau said regarding Christianity, in On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, “Your church is a baby-house made of blocks”. While sometimes blunt, Thoreau challenged society in ways that an ordinary man of his time would dare not to. This brave and outspoken attitude helped Thoreau to theorize and develop ideas wholly on his own, without being influenced by societal

After Thoreau’s death, Ralph Waldo Emerson said “The country knows not yet, or in the least part, how great a son it has lost. . . . His soul was made for the noblest society; he had in a short life exhausted the capabilities of this world; wherever there is knowledge, wherever there is virtue, wherever there is beauty, he will find a home." Emerson was a good friend of Thoreau’s, and a fellow philosopher. He also is most certainly not alone in his great respect for Thoreau. Martin Luther King and Mohandas K. Gandhi are also among the prominent social revolutionaries who have recognized Thoreau, “[both men] credited Thoreau with inspiring their nonviolent campaigns”. Not only has Thoreau been recognized by such influential figures, but he has indirectly changed society through his inspiration of them. Thoreau both changed the world while he was alive, and will continue to as long as people still know of