Thoreau

“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave so close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or …

…Horace Greeley, the Editor of the New York Tribune. Greeley served as Thoreau’s literary helped him sell two pieces to the United States Magazine and Democratic Review. Thoreau received little gratification from these articles due to the extensive compromise required to make the sale. At return home, he would spend many hours in the woods and fields. Thoreau’s journal clearly indicates his purpose- to gain moral superiority and entertainment, rather than technical knowledge.