Thoreau is one the our most quotable writers. It is one of the reasons that those of us who are Thoreau fans re-read him so regularly.

Reading “Walking” again I have underlined the following lines (there are many, many more I could include):

In literature it is only the wild that attracts us.

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Where is the literature which gives expression to Nature?

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I do not know of any poetry to quote which adequately expresses this yearning for the Wild.

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Eastward I go only by force, but westward I go free.

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Every sunset which I witness inspires me with the desire to go to the west as distant and as far as that into which the sun goes down.

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Roads are made for horses and men of business.

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But the walking of which I speak has nothing in it akin to taking exercise….

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When a traveler asked Wordsworth’s servant to show him her master’s study, she answered, “Here is his library, but his study is out of doors.”

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When we walk, we naturally go to the field and woods: what would become of us, if we walked only in a garden or a mall?

I am re-reading “Walking” while reading Lauren Hall’s excellent biography of Thoreau as writer. It is a good combination. I highly recommend both to you.