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February 8 - February 19, 2025
He’s stripped the world to his essentials, and proper names are not essential.
It wasn’t funny enough to be a joke, and it wasn’t serious enough to be a crime.
He was a thief, not a vandal. If he removed a door, he took the time to reattach it. Expensive items didn’t seem to interest him.
Because of the type of articles that were stolen, one family called him the Mountain Man, but that frightened their children, so they changed it to the Hungry Man.
Tempted to say ‘nothing personal,’ but handwritten letters are always personal,
Knight seemed to say exactly what he was thinking, raw and true, unfiltered by the safety net of social niceties.
“I’m not sorry about being rude if it gets to the point quicker,”
His facial hair served not just as a calendar but also as a mask, absorbing the stares of others while allowing him a little privacy in plain sight.
“It’s better to be tough than strong, better to be clever than intelligent,”
“Those with less become content,” says the Tao, “those with more become confused.”
you can’t actually live by yourself all the time. You need help.
My favorite colors are those that helped me blend in. Dark green a shade darker than John Deere green is my favorite color.”
“Worry can give you an extra prod to survive and plan. And I had to plan.”
when was a journal ever honest? “It either tells a lot of truths to cover a single lie,” he said, “or a lot of lies to cover a single truth.”
Nature, Knight clarified, is brutal. The weak do not survive, and neither do the strong. Life is a constant, merciless fight that everyone loses.
He never thought about keeping a pet: “I couldn’t put myself in a situation where I’m competing with the
According to more than a dozen studies conducted around the world, Knight’s camp—an oasis of natural quiet—may have been the ideal setting to encourage maximal brain function.
noise and distraction are toxic.
“Once you get below negative twenty, you purposely don’t think. It’s like there’s no atheists in a foxhole. Same with negative twenty.
All of Knight’s survival tactics were focused on winter.
“People don’t comprehend the reasons. They only see craziness and absurdness. I had a strategy, a long-term plan. They don’t comprehend because I’m not there to explain it.”
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
“He that thinks most, will say least.”
Now that he’s free, it is clear that he isn’t.
