# Henry Thoreau

## Biography

Henry David Thoreau was an influential American essayist, poet, and philosopher, born in Concord, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1817. After graduating from Harvard University in 1837, Thoreau became a central figure in the Transcendentalist movement, befriending mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. He spent much of his life in Concord, working intermittently in his family's pencil-making business and as a surveyor, while dedicating himself to his writing and observations of nature.

Thoreau is most renowned for his two-year experiment in simple living at Walden Pond, which he chronicled in his seminal work, *Walden*, published in 1854. His essay "Civil Disobedience" articulated his philosophy of nonviolent resistance to unjust laws, profoundly influencing figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. A fervent abolitionist, Thoreau’s deep connection to the natural world and his advocacy for individual liberty and self-reliance remain cornerstones of American thought. He passed away in Concord on May 6, 1862.

## Books

- [On the Duty of Civil Disobedience](https://samolit.com/books/96333)
- [Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience](https://samolit.com/books/95856)