| Life
without Principle
by Henry David Thoreau - 1863
"... in a few pages the very essence of Thoreau's philosopy. ... It
is pure Transcendentalism, a plea that each follow his own inner light."
- Walter Harding, The Days of Henry Thoreau
"Life Without Principle is the finest of Thoreau's negatives.
Here is the woodchuck Thoreau, gritting his teeth until they are powdered."
- Henry Seidel Canby, Thoreau
Life without Principle in
two parts: Part 1 - Part
2
Life without Principle originated as a lecture called "What Shall
it Profit," first delivered at Railroad Hall in Providence, Rhode Island,
on December 6, 1854. It was the 46th of the 75 lectures Thoreau is known
to have given. It was delivered four more times in Massachusetts in 1855,
and once in New Jersey in 1856. The Thoreau Reader's version was edited
by Thoreau for publication before he died, and published posthumously in
the Atlantic Monthly in 1863, where it received its modern title.
A more detailed history of this and other Thoreau lectures is at the
Thoreau
Home Page. |
