Post by Mitch on Nov 24, 2004 11:12:17 GMT
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things".
"The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? .... I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that. One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels".
(Walden or, Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience', Henry David Thoreau)
Edward Carpenter was influenced by Thoreau as well as Whitman. If socialism needs urgently to look back to Carpenter's style, might I suggest that anarchism should muse over Thoreau.
Walden is truly a precious gift.
"The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well? .... I hear an irresistible voice which invites me away from all that. One generation abandons the enterprises of another like stranded vessels".
(Walden or, Life in the Woods and On the Duty of Civil Disobedience', Henry David Thoreau)
Edward Carpenter was influenced by Thoreau as well as Whitman. If socialism needs urgently to look back to Carpenter's style, might I suggest that anarchism should muse over Thoreau.
Walden is truly a precious gift.