| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 59778 |
| QUOTATION: | Each reaching and aspiration is an instinct with which all nature consists and cöoperates, and therefore it is not in vain. But alas! each relaxing and desperation is an instinct too. To be active, well, happy, implies courage. To be ready to fight in a duel or a battle implies desperation, or that you hold your life cheap. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Letter, May 20, 1860, to Harrison Blake, in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 6, pp. 361-362, Houghton Mifflin (1906). |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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