11.15.2013

prosaic, hard, and coarse
...Thoreau's Journal: 15-Nov-1853

After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined, and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft.

5 comments:

Northland said...

An excellent anthem of the biocentrist. Thoreau would appear to be one of the first to reject anthropocentrism in the USA.

Anonymous said...

I so agree, Henry. Most people are not worth the time or trouble. What wasted lives they lead.

Without you, Henry, I would consider most of humanity a failed experiment.

Anonymous said...

Yes, unfortunately, not only most of humanity a failed experiment, but a very dangerous experiment for the well-being of all creatures on earth. Climate change, cruelty, war - all of our bad problems come from humans, not from nature. Nature is much kinder than humanity.

michael jameson said...

men are full of greed it is ugly and will be their downfall!, and when they realize what they have done, it will be to late !!, and if nature could shake its head it would.

Regina said...

Even worse: After having been confronted with those rock-hearted people I personally feel kind of mix of dead and hard-hearted at the same time.

Takes me almost a whole day to find my inner peace again, to find me living...... quite a bad influence those hard peope, isn´t it?