Man is Like a Tree

[Becky]

Feb. 18 [1841]. Thursday. I do not judge men by anything they can do. Their greatest deed is the impression they make on me. Some serene, inactive men can do everything. Talent only indicates a depth of character in some direction. We do not acquire the ability to do new deeds, but a new capacity for all deeds. My recent growth does not appear in any visible new talent, but its deed will enter into my gaze when I look into the sky, or vacancy. It will help me to consider ferns and everlasting. Man is like a tree which is limited to no age, but grows as long as it has its root in the ground. We have only to live in the alburnum and not in the old wood. The gnarled stump has as tender a bud as the sapling.

Sometimes I find that I have frequented a higher society during sleep, and my thoughts and actions proceed on a higher level in the morning.

A man is the hydrostatic paradox, the counterpoise of the system. You have studied flowers and birds cheaply enough, but you must lay yourself out to buy him.

[John]

I like the sentence about the gnarled stump.

I purchased about 15 years ago a hard copy of his Wild Fruits: Thoreau's Rediscovered Last Manuscript. I never really got to read it, though — except perhaps snippets here and there. I donated it to my library before I moved to North Carolina. I would consider buying another copy, but I feel as if there is already so much writing I need to read.