[Book Sip] "I Want to Leave Plenty of Margin in Life"

Henry David Thoreau 'Walden'

Some sentences encapsulate the entire content of a book in themselves, while others instantly reach the reader's heart and create a connection with the book. We present meaningful sentences excerpted from books. - Editor's note

Henry David Thoreau's "Walden," which deeply influenced countless thinkers worldwide such as Mahatma Gandhi, Robert Frost, and Marcel Proust, has been published as volume 395 in the Minumsa World Literature Series. Thoreau captured what he saw, felt, and realized during his two years and two months by Walden Pond in eighteen essays. Although it did not attract much attention at the time of publication, it was later praised in the 20th century as a masterpiece of American literature that explores the laws and beauty of nature and pursues truth through profound contemplation.

During the first summer I spent in the forest, I could not read books. I cultivated a bean field. No, sometimes I did even better than that. Whether it was mental or physical work, there were times when I did not want to sacrifice the beauty of the present moment by working. I want to leave ample space in life.

People often say to me, "It must be very lonely there. Especially on rainy or snowy nights, don’t you want to be close to people?" I want to reply to these people like this: The entire Earth we live on is just a speck in the universe. Our measuring tools cannot even measure the width of the star floating over there, so how far do you think the distance is between two people living farthest apart on that star? Why do you think I would be lonely?

Through experiments, I have learned at least the following: if each of us confidently moves toward our dreams and tries to live the life we imagine, we will achieve success beyond our usual expectations. In the process, we may forget precious things and cross invisible boundaries. New, universal, and more progressive laws will take root around us and within us. Or old laws will be expanded and interpreted in a more progressive sense to our advantage, and we will be recognized and live as beings of a higher dimension. The simpler life becomes, the more the laws of the universe become concise in proportion, and solitude will no longer be solitude, poverty will no longer be poverty, and weaknesses will no longer be weaknesses.

"Why do we rush so desperately to succeed, and push forward so recklessly? If someone does not keep pace with their peers, it is probably because they are hearing the beat of a different drummer. Let that person walk to the music they hear. No matter the rhythm of that drum, or how far away the sound may be. There is no law that says they must mature at the same rate as an apple tree or an oak tree. Are you saying they must change their spring to summer just to keep pace with others?"

(Walden, written by Henry David Thoreau, Minumsa)