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  1. Feb 2024
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    Walden; or, Life in the Woods
    1
    1. chrisaldrich 02 Feb 2024
      But lo!men have become the tools of their tools. The manwho independently plucked the fruits when he was hun¬gry is become a farmer; and he who stood under a treefor shelter, a housekeeper.

      p41

      This quote is fascinating when one realizes that the Thoreau family business was manufacturing pencils at John Thoreau & Co., one of the first major pencil companies in the United States. Thoreau's father was the titular John and Henry David worked in the factory and improved upon the hardness of their graphite. https://hypothes.is/a/sm7LUpazEe2tTq_GhGiVIg

      One might also then say that the man who manufactured pencils naturally should become a writer!

      This quote also bears some interesting resemblance to quotes about tools which shape us by Winston Churchill and John M. Culkin see: https://hypothes.is/a/6Znx6MiMEeu3ljcVBsKNOw

      quotes Henry David Thoreau tools John M. Culkin Winston Churchill John Thoreau & Co. pencils we shape our tools and thereafter they shape us

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