“ How can one be a wise man, if he does not know any better how to live than other men?—if he is only more cunning and intellectually subtle? ”
Henry David Thoreau, Life Without Principle (1863). copy citation
| Author | Henry David Thoreau |
|---|---|
| Source | Life Without Principle |
| Topic | living |
| Date | 1863 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Atlantic_Monthly/Volume_12/Number_71/... |
Context
“I think that society has done nothing for us in this respect, or at least has undone what she has done. Cold and hunger seem more friendly to my nature than those methods which men have adopted and advise to ward them off.
The title wise is, for the most part, falsely applied. How can one be a wise man, if he does not know any better how to live than other men?—if he is only more cunning and intellectually subtle? Does Wisdom work in a tread-mill? or does she teach how to succeed by her example? Is there any such thing as wisdom not applied to life? Is she merely the miller who grinds the finest logic? It is pertinent to ask if Plato got his living in a better way or more successfully than his contemporaries,—or did he succumb to the difficulties of life like other men?”
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