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← People and their mental models

Henry David Thoreau's mental models

2 claims Henry David Thoreau made fit 1 mental model. Most often: Less, but better. Everything they said here.

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Less, but better

Find the essence and cut the rest; simplicity is hard work, not the absence of effort.

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Life is worth living deliberately, facing only its essential facts, so as not to find at death that one has not lived

  1. Henry David Thoreau American philosopher and writer (1817 to 1862) I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. Walden (1854)gutenberg.org · c. 1854All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsI went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

    ↗Walden (1854)gutenberg.org

    c. 1854

Life is frittered away by detail, and should be kept simple

  1. Henry David Thoreau American philosopher and writer (1817 to 1862) Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! Walden (1854)gutenberg.org · c. 1854All korrents from this piece
    Their wordsOur life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!

    ↗Walden (1854)gutenberg.org

    c. 1854