For Work / Against Work
Debates on the centrality of work

Journal

by Thoreau, Henry David (2009)

Key Passage

(Neighbout Minott) does nothing with haste and drudgery, but as if he loved it. He makes the most of hislabour, and takes infinite satisfaction in every part of it. He is not looking forward to the sale of his crops or any pecuniary profit, but he is paid by the constant satisfaction which his labor yields him. He has not too much land to trouble him, - too much work to do, - no hired man nor boy, - but simply to amuse himself and live… He knows every pin and nail in his barn… He is never in a hurry to get his garden planted and yet [it] is always planted soon enough, and none in the town is kept so beautifully clean. He always prophesises a failure of crops, and yet is satisfied with what he gets. (p.149)

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Thoreau

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