Thoreau is obviously a tad extreme, particularly in Walden, but his messages are timeless. These quotes profoundly impacted my life: > I also have in my mind

Thoreau is obviously a tad extreme, particularly in Walden, but his messages are timeless. These quotes profoundly impacted my life: > I also have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters. and > "I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws will be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." Among other influences, these quotes helped me to break free of my "golden fetters." I quit my high-paying and "prestigious" career, which was sucking my soul, and escaped the big city in favor of a simpler lifestyle. Haven't looked back once.