“ It is pitiful when a man bears a name for convenience merely, who has earned neither name nor fame. ”
Henry David Thoreau, Walking (1851). copy citation
| Author | Henry David Thoreau |
|---|---|
| Source | Walking |
| Topic | fame convenience |
| Date | 1851 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1022/1022-h/1022-h.htm |
Context
“by his playmates, and this rightly supplanted his Christian name. Some travellers tell us that an Indian had no name given him at first, but earned it, and his name was his fame; and among some tribes he acquired a new name with every new exploit. It is pitiful when a man bears a name for convenience merely, who has earned neither name nor fame.
I will not allow mere names to make distinctions for me, but still see men in herds for all them. A familiar name cannot make a man less strange to me. It may be given to a savage who retains in secret his own wild title earned in the woods.”
source
