Thoreau turns 200

Hey book-lovers,

Thought you might like to know that Henry David Thoreau, author of Walden and Civil Disobedience (both of which Erin highly recommends) turns 200 today! 

Here's a quote for you:

"The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star." (Henry David Thoreau, Walden)

Pretty deep, right? Kind of reminds me of this:

"Should we continue to look upwards? Is the light we can see in the sky one of those which will presently be extinguished? The ideal is terrifying to behold... brilliant but threatened on all sides by the dark forces that surround it: nevertheless, no more in danger than a star in the jaws of the clouds." (Victor Hugo, Les Misérables)

And this: 

"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tower high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach." (J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King)

Or maybe this is a little closer:

"'The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.' And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." (C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle)

I guess what I'm really trying to say is, happy birthday, Thoreau.

The sun (or is it just a morning star?) in Walden Woods

 This has been quote time with Erin. 'Til tomorrow.