“If you can speak what you will never hear, if you can write what you will never read, you have done rare things.”

American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher

Henry David Thoreau was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. He is closely associated with the transcendentalist movement and is best known for Walden and for his essay "Civil Disobedience". Walden reflects on simple living in natural surroundings. "Civil Disobedience" argues that citizens may resist an unjust state. Thoreau's writing often returns to independence, conscience, and a close attention to nature.