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Walden by Henry David Thoreau

Walden

Henry David Thoreau1854

Essays
Outline

The Thesis

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Why no Essential Cut?

We don't abridge this one — it's already essential. Some books can't be honestly shortened without losing what makes them worth reading, so we leave them whole.

Contents

  1. 1Economy25,549 w
  2. 2Where I Lived, and What I Lived For6,087 w
  3. 3Reading3,766 w
  4. 4Sounds5,698 w
  5. 5Solitude3,433 w
  6. 6Visitors4,747 w
  7. 7The Bean-Field3,873 w
  8. 8The Village2,022 w
  9. 9The Ponds9,158 w
  10. 10Baker Farm2,555 w
  11. 11Higher Laws4,208 w
  12. 12Brute Neighbors4,791 w
  13. 13House-Warming5,719 w
  14. 14Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors4,677 w
  15. 15Winter Animals3,636 w
  16. 16The Pond in Winter5,208 w
  17. 17Spring6,633 w
  18. 18Conclusion4,628 w
  19. 19ON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE9,332 w

Walden — Henry David Thoreau · first published 1854

Public-domain text · ref #205