Life Without Principle

By Henry David Thoreau

This influential work delves into Thoreau's critique of a society obsessed with economic gain and material success, advocating for a life rooted in deeper values and principles. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Left of Brain Books
• Release date: Feb 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9781396325373

Henry David Thoreau

Henry Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1817, and attended Concord Academy and Harvard. After a short time spent as a teacher, he worked as a surveyor and a handyman, sometimes employed by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Between 1845 and 1847 Thoreau lived in a house he had made himself on Emerson's property near to Walden Pond. During this period he completed A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers and wrote the first draft of Walden, the book that is generally judged to be his masterpiece. He died of tuberculosis in 1862, and much of his writing was published posthumously.

Book preview

Life Without Principle

By

Henry David Thoreau

First published in 1863

Image 1

Published by Left of Brain Books

Copyright © 2023 Left of Brain Books

ISBN 978-1-396-32537-3

eBook Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations permitted by copyright law. Left of Brain Books is a division of Left Of Brain Onboarding Pty Ltd.

PUBLISHER’S PREFACE

About the Book

"Life Without Principle is an essay by Henry David Thoreau that gives his program for right livelihood.

-Don't cheat people by conspiring with them to protect their comfort zones.

-Don't make religions and other such institutions the sort of intellectual comfort zone that prevents you from entertaining ideas that aren't to be found there.

-Don't cheat yourself by working primarily for a paycheck. If what you do with your life free-of-charge is so worthless to you that you'd be convinced to do something else in exchange for a little money or fame, you need better hobbies.

-Furthermore, don't hire someone who's only in it for the money.

-Sustain yourself by the life you live, not by exchanging your life for money and living off of that.

-It is a shame to be living off of an inheritance, charity, a government pension, or to gamble your way to prosperity -

either through a lottery or by such means as prospecting for gold.

-Remember that what is valuable about a thing is not the same as how much money it will fetch on the market.

-Don't waste conversation and attention on the superficial trivialities and gossip of the daily news, but attend to things of more import: Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.

-Similarly, politics is something that ought to be a minor and discreet part of life, not the grotesque public sport it has become.

-Don't mistake the march of commerce for progress and civilization - especially when that commerce amounts to driving slaves to produce the articles of vice like alcohol and tobacco.

There's no shortage of gold, of tobacco, of alcohol, but there is a short supply of a high and earnest purpose."

(Quote from wikipedia.org)

About the Author

Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)

"Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817 - May 6,