Thoreau
was not the only famous writer who felt that we tend to fritter away our lives. Here is what
Chekhov says in his best story, "The Lady with the Pet Dog":
Useless pursuits and conversations always about the same things
absorb the better part of ones time, the better part of ones strength, and in the end there is
left a life grovelling and curtailed, worthless and trivial, and there is no escaping or getting
away from itjust as though one were in a madhouse or a prison.
Thoreau had one great advantage--if it isn't considered a great misfortune or a great
handicap. He was never married. A single man is able to do pretty much as he pleases. If he is
frugal and spartan in his tastes, he can live very cheaply and devote much of his time to
reading, writing, and communing with nature. But if he is married he is likely to have children,
which leads to wanting a good home and seemingly endless expenses, worries, and
details.
When William Wordsworth wrote
The world is too much with...
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