The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

March

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

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.

—Henry David Thoreau

Source: Wikimedia

Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1817. His early years were shaped by his education, first at Concord Academy and then at Harvard, and by his mother's love of nature.

After graduation, Thoreau met Ralph Waldo Emerson, who would become his dear friend and mentor. In 1840, Thoreau began contributing to The Dial, the transcendentalist journal that was edited by Emerson and Margaret Fuller.

His writing also began to take on a political bent. Thoreau was opposed to slavery and wrote about his viewpoint often. He published his essay, “Civil Disobedience,” which became well-known and would later serve as an inspiration for activists like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi.

In 1845, Thoreau built a cabin and moved out to a piece of land near Walden Pond. During his two years there, he finished his first book, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, which was not a popular success.

Following the cool reception to his first publication, Thoreau traveled around New England and Canada, revising what would become his second book, Walden. Based on his time living in the cabin, this book became a critical success in his lifetime and is still ...