Walden (1854)

Henry David Thoreau did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this book, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The book prints chapter headings its extracted text does not preserve, so the claims below are in the book's order but not grouped. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Most people lead lives of quiet desperation, and what is called resignation is confirmed desperation

Their wordsThe mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.
Our reading
Most luxuries and many comforts are not only unnecessary but positive hindrances to human elevation

Their wordsMost of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.
Our reading
The cost of a thing is the amount of life that has to be exchanged for it, now or in the long run

Their wordsthe cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.
Our reading
A person is rich in proportion to the number of things they can afford to leave alone

Their wordsa man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.
Our reading
Life is worth living deliberately, facing only its essential facts, so as not to find at death that one has not lived

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

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!

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An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith · 9 Mar 1776 2 claims worded alike
Letter to Menoeceus and Principal Doctrines, in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book X Epicurus · c. 341–270 BCE 2 claims worded alike
Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire · c. 1968 1 claim worded alike
Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl · c. 1946–1992 1 claim worded alike

Found from what the books talk about: claims worded alike in the archive's hourly pass, and subjects both are filed under. It is not a judgement that they agree — related books often argue the opposite. All books

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The other pieces are the ones whose claims are worded most like this one's. That measures language, not agreement: they may argue the opposite.