What does Thoreau want to spend his time trying to understand?

What does Thoreau want to spend his time trying to understand?

What does Thoreau want to spend his time trying to understand, and how does he plan to achieve that understanding? He wants to find the secret of things by studying deliberately.

What does it mean to live a life of quiet desperation?

Quiet desperation is acceptance of–and surrendering to–circumstances. Quietly desperate lives are frustrated, passive, and apathetic. They’re unfulfilled and unrealized. Pay attention to the following signs of a quietly desperate life.

What was Thoreau’s definition of happiness?

Happiness is like a butterfly, the more you chase it, the more it will evade you, but if you notice the other things around you, it will gently come and sit on your shoulder.

What does Walden symbolize?

Walden Pond, at the edge of which he lives, symbolizes the spiritual significance of nature. Every morning, Thoreau takes a bath in the pond and calls it a religious experience, reminding him of nature’s endless capacity to renew life and stirring him to higher aspirations.