Why We Love Henry David Thoreau, in 5 Quotes五句引言揭秘为何人人爱梭罗

戴夫·鲁斯 译/陈旭 审订/徐怀静

Henry David Thoreau is one of America’s most beloved and misunderstood writers. He’s famous for retreating to a rustic cabin at Walden Pond in the Massachusetts woods for two years to ruminate on nature and philosophy， but Thoreau wasn’t a hermit or a cranky misanthrope. He was， in a word， a “questioner，” says Jeffrey S. Cramer， curator of collections at the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods， and author or editor of nearly a dozen books about Thoreau and his Transcendentalist friend Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“Thoreau is constantly asking questions in his own writings， both to himself and to his reader， that make you evaluate your life and how you’re living it，” says Cramer.

Born in 1817 in Concord， Massachusetts， Thoreau never married and worked as a teacher， lecturer， handyman， pencil-maker （his father’s business） and a writer. His best-known works， “Walden” （1854） and “Civil Disobedience” （originally titled “Resistance to Civil Government” in 1849） weren’t bestsellers in his lifetime， but have since become classics of American prose and guidebooks for truth-seekers of all ages.

The few surviving photographs of Thoreau show a dour-looking man with tousled hair and a neck beard， but Cramer says that Thoreau was far from a sourpuss. He had a tremendous sense of humor， was beloved by children for telling wild stories and even played pranks on his buddy Emerson.

If you’re still on the fence about  Thoreau， read the following five quotes that exemplify the straight-talking depth of one of America’s most influential thinkers and writers.

1. “If I am not I， who will be？”

Thoreau was unapologetically true to himself and encouraged others to be. He was very much his own man， uninterested in conforming to the expectations of 19th-century society. Thoreau didn’t care for organized religion or government， and thought that slaving away at a job six days a week just to buy more material possessions was a waste.

Cramer is so moved by this quote that he thinks it should be carved in stone over every schoolhouse in America and recited daily in classrooms.

“Can you imagine how differently every student would feel about who they are？” asks Cramer. “We need to be proud of who we are， whatever that looks like， and live the life that only we are destined to live.”

2. “What does education often do！ It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free meandering brook.”

Thoreau’s first job was as a teacher. He was fired after only a few weeks at the Concord Center School because he refused to use corporal punishment， so Thoreau and his brother John opened their own school. There they experimented with radical ideas for the time， like open dialogue between students and teachers， and experiential learning.

“If you want to learn what a huckleberry is， you don’t sit in a classroom and read a botany book—or have the teacher recite from a botany book that the students then memorize， as they did in those days，” says Cramer. “In Thoreau’s school， you went out to the field， you found huckleberries， you picked huckleberries and you tasted huckleberries.”

Even today， Cramer worries that students have too much of their lives “prescribed” for them by parents and teachers who preach that good grades， the “right” college and a well-paid career is the only recipe for happiness.

“That’s when education becomes this ‘straight-cut ditch’ that Thoreau was talking about，” says Cramer. “It takes a ‘free meandering student’ and puts them on this very narrow path.”

3. “Surely joy is the condition of life.”

“Joy” and “laughter” are not words that come to mind when you think of Henry David Thoreau. But according to Cramer， Thoreau loved to sing， dance and play the flute， and his public lectures literally left people rolling in the aisles.

And although Thoreau wasn’t a churchgoer， he was “religious” in the sense that he saw the divine in everything， especially the natural world. In an essay titled “Walking，” Thoreau laments， “How little appreciation of the beauty of the landscape there is among us！” For Thoreau， watching the leaves change colors in the fall， or gazing at a distant mountain range， inspired a childlike sense of joy that he yearned to share with his readers.

4. “If a man does not keep pace with his companions， perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.”

Thoreau did some of his best thinking when he was off alone in a secluded place like the cabin at Walden Pond. But even during that two-year stint in the woods， he didn’t cut himself off completely from society.

“People have this idea that he went off to the woods and never saw a soul， and that is not the case，” says Cramer. “When he lived at Walden Pond， he was going to town almost daily to visit with friends， to go to the post office， to do various things. And people would visit him at Walden Pond.”

The sociable Thoreau recognized the importance of being your own best companion first， so that when you are alone， says Cramer， “you still have yourself.”

5. “Did ever a man try heroism， magnanimity， truth， sincerity， and find that there was no advantage in them？”

Thoreau was a profoundly principled person who believed in practicing what he preached. He thought that slavery was a despicable practice， for example， so he took his own small stand. During his stay at Walden Pond， he refused to pay a poll tax because it went to a government that supported slavery. He spent a night in jail for his protest and it formed the seed of “Civil Disobedience.”

But Thoreau’s abolitionism didn’t end with a poll tax protest. Cramer says that the Thoreau family home in Concord was a stop on the Underground Railroad1， and that after nursing runaway enslaved people to health， Thoreau would accompany them on the train north to Canada.

“When he felt that it was safe and there were no slave catchers around， Thoreau would jump off the train and walk back to Concord，” says Cramer. “Even if he didn’t join the Abolitionist Party and attend meetings， Thoreau was doing his part in ways that many of his abolitionist neighbors wouldn’t dare to do.”

亨利·戴维·梭罗是最受喜爱和最不为人理解的美国作家之一。在马萨诸塞州林间的瓦尔登湖畔，他搭建了一间小木屋，于此隐居两年，思考自然和哲学。他因此闻名于世。但梭罗并不是一个隐士或古怪的厌世者。用杰弗里·S. 克拉默的话简单来说，梭罗是一个“发问者”。克拉默是瓦尔登森林梭罗研究所的收藏品负责人，同时，他撰写和编辑了十几本关于梭罗和他的挚友——超验主义者拉尔夫·沃尔多·爱默生的书籍。

克拉默说：“梭罗在作品中向他自己和读者不断发问，启发大家叩问自己的生活，审视自己的生活方式。”

梭罗于1817年出生在马萨诸塞州康科德，终生未婚。他曾做过教师、演说家、杂工、铅笔制造商（他父亲的生意）和作家。在梭罗的有生之年，他最著名的作品《瓦尔登湖》（1854年）和《论公民的不服从义务》（写于1849年，原名为《反民主政府》）并不畅销，但后来成为美国的经典散文，也成为所有年龄层真理寻求者的指南。

从梭罗留存不多的照片中可以看出，他长相阴郁，头发蓬乱，留着络腮胡，但克拉默说梭罗绝不是一个令人生厌的人。他非常幽默，常给孩子们讲怪诞故事，深受孩子们喜爱，他甚至还对挚友爱默生恶作剧。

作为美国最有影响力的思想家和作家之一，梭罗直言不讳、思想深刻。若你对他的态度仍犹豫不决，以下5句引言将向你说明。

1. “如若我不是我，谁是我？”

梭罗坚决忠于自己，并鼓励他人如此。他完全不受他人左右，无意按19世纪的社会要求行事，也不在乎宗教组织或政府。他认为，仅为购买更多的物质产品而每周辛苦劳作6天徒劳无益。

此话深深触动了克拉默。他认为美国所有学校都应该把这句话镌刻石上，让学生在教室里每天背诵。

“你能想象每个学生对自我的看法会发生多大变化吗？”克拉默问道。“无论我们看上去怎样，我们都应该为自己是谁而骄傲，而且应该过自己命中注定的生活。”

2. “教育通常做什么？把自由蜿蜒的小溪变成直水渠。”

梭罗的第一份工作是教师。由于拒绝体罚学生，他在康科德中心学校仅工作几周便被解雇了。后来梭罗和他的兄长约翰开办了自己的学校。他们当时尝试了一些大胆激进的做法，比如让师生进行开放式讨论，又如采用体验式学习法。

克拉默说：“如果你想知道什么是美洲越橘，你不能枯坐教室啃植物学课本，也不能死记老师的照本宣科。这是当时学校的做法。在梭罗的学校，你可以走出教室，走到田地里去寻找、去采摘、去品尝。”

即使在今天，克拉默仍担心学生的生活过多受到父母和老师“指令”的干涉。父母和老师告诫他们，好成绩、“好”大学和高薪职业是幸福的唯一秘诀。

克拉默表示：“于是，教育就变成了梭罗所说的‘直水渠’，将‘小溪般自由蜿蜒的学生’局限在这条窄之又窄的小路上。”

3. “毫无疑问，快乐是生活的前提。”

当你想到亨利·戴维·梭罗，脑海中并不会浮现“喜悦”和“笑声”这样的词。但克拉默说，梭罗喜欢唱歌、跳舞、吹长笛，而且他的公开演讲确实曾让人捧腹大笑。

虽然梭罗不去教堂，但他身上确有些许“宗教气息”，因为他在一切事物中，尤其是在自然界的一切事物中，都看到了神圣之处。梭罗在一篇题为《行走》的文章中哀叹道：“我们对美景的欣赏实在太少！”对梭罗来说，看着树叶在秋天变黄，或凝视远处的山脉，都能带给他孩子般的喜悦，他渴望与读者分享这份喜悦。

4. “如果一个人的步伐与他的同伴不一致，那他可能是听到了不一样的鼓点。”

在类似瓦尔登湖畔僻静小屋的地方独处，梭罗迸发出了最美的思想火花。而即便在林中隐居的那两年，他也并非完全与世隔绝。

“人们觉得他隐居山林，不再和人打交道了，事实并非如此。”克拉默说，“住在瓦尔登湖畔的小屋时，他几乎每天都要去镇上拜访朋友，去邮局寄信，去做各种事情。也有人会去瓦尔登湖看望他。”

好交际的梭罗认识到，重要的是要先成为自己最好的朋友;这样，当你独处时，“你将还有自我。”克拉默说。

5.“是否有人践行英雄主义、宽宏大量、追求真理、真诚待人，却发现这些品质一无是处？”

梭罗非常有原则，他信奉“有诸己而后求诸人”。比如，他认为奴隶制是一种卑劣的行径，便坚持这一立场。在瓦尔登湖畔独居时，他拒绝缴纳人头税，因为人头税归于支持奴隶制的政府。他因此而蹲监一夜，这促使他撰写了《论公民的不服从义务》。

但梭羅的废奴主张并不仅限于对人头税的抗议。克拉默说，梭罗在康科德的老家是地下铁路组织的一个站点，他照顾受伤的逃亡黑奴，等他们身体恢复后，就陪他们乘坐火车，向北前往加拿大。

“到了他觉得没有逃奴捕手的安全地带，梭罗便跳下火车，走回康科德。”克拉默说，“即便没有加入废奴党，也没有参加废奴会议，梭罗仍在以自己的方式尽一份力。而许多废奴主义者都没有胆量做这些事。”

[译者单位：中国石油大学（北京）克拉玛依校区]