Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/thoreau.jpg)
Henry David Thoreau (1817-62)
American philosopher(pictured right), poet and influential supporter of:
![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/emerson2.jpg)
His most famous book
is...
Walden (1854), a book that described his life (1845-7) in a log cabin he built near Walden
Pond, Massachusetts, on land owned by his friend and teacher, Ralph Waldo Emerson (pictured
right).
They both believed in transcendentalism that values nature and the
spirit of the individual.
![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/gandhi2.jpg)
Who did he influence?
His essay on non-violent resistance, Civil Disobedience (1849), greatly
influenced:
Mahatma (
Mohandas) Gandhi, the Indian leader (pictured right).
Martin Luther King, the American civil rights
leader (pictured right below).![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/king3.jpg)
His tips on success and happiness
1. Simplify your life![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/org-structure-simplify2.jpg)
- reduce your spending (to avoid the stress of earning more).
- be as self-sufficient as you can
2. Enjoy yourself
![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/happiness-life%20.jpg)
a) love life
Live it to the full.
b) use your time well
Give more time to yourself (for thinking and relaxation) and to other people.
It is better to be “poor in money but rich in sunny hours and summer days”, Thoreau said.
![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/cash-1.jpg)
c) don’t be a slave to money
Use it to be happier.
d) exercise
Exercise is a great way to relax and soothe your troubled mind.
That’s why Thoreau always went for a walk after reading bad news in a newspaper!
![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/time.jpg)
3. Prioritize and change yourself
Concentrate on what’s important like family and friends, not on frivolous inventions
(“pretty toys” he called them).
You have a responsibility to change and improve yourself, particularly in
your spiritual life.
Wisdom and peace of mind are much more important than fame and
fortune.
4. Be free and creative![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/knowledge-management2.jpg)
a) continuously learn
(about yourself and the world around you).
b) do your own thing
Do something creative, worthwhile and enjoyable without other people telling you what to do.
So Thoreau moved to his log cabin in the woods “to live deliberately”, he said.
c) try something new
Once you’ve done one thing, do something else.
So Thoreau didn’t stay too long in his father’s pencil making business.
d) minimize government interference
“Government is best which governs not at all”, he said.
![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/nature3.jpg)
5. Protect the environment
He loved nature and believed it should be protected from commercial
exploitation.
(pictured right is the Rocky Mountains in America).
“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”, he asked.
![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/positive-thinking.jpg)
6. Be optimistic
Overcome your loneliness, despair, fear and anxiety with courage and hope for the future.
But unfortunately most people have “lives of quiet desperation”, he said.
![Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness Henry David Thoreau - Philosophy, Success and Happiness](images/fightforright.jpg)
7. “Civil disobedience” (fight for right)
Disobey a government whose actions are unjust and
wrong.
So in protest against slavery, he refused to pay his poll tax and spent a night in prison in 1846.
“The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right”, he wrote.
Key quote on
happiness
I went to the woods to live deliberately...I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life
Key quote on
innovation
Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things
Key quote on
ethics
The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right.
Key quote on peace of
mind
Our life is frittered away by detail...Simplify, simplify.
Key quote on
society
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
Key quote on fear and
anxiety
Nothing is so much to be feared as fear.
Key quote on politics and
government
Government is best which governs not at all.
Key quote on
money
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.
Key quotes on time
management
To affect the quality of the day that is the highest of arts.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Key quote on learning and
wisdom
Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.
Key quote on interviewing and
selection
Do not hire a man who does your work for money but him who does it for love of it.
Key quote on
change
Things do not change; we change.
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