I wished to live deliberately, also

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

I did not wish to live what was not life,
living is so dear;
nor did I wish to practise resignation,
unless it was quite necessary.

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life,
to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life,
to cut a broad swath and shave close,
to drive life into a corner,
and reduce it to its lowest terms,

and, if it proved to be mean,
why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it,
and publish its meanness to the world;
or if it were sublime,
to know it by experience,
and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."

-David Henry Thoreau (1817-1862)

Something that I have had on my table since 3-4 years ago... ignored and neglected, until I realized recently how much it means for me. Why live life as if , to your arrogance, it were your right to have one, but live it as if, to your open mindedness, realize you own it and yet know nothing of it.