Thought for Today ~

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.  It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautified; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do.  To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.  Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour."

~ Henry D. Thoreau (1817 - 1862) A Fully Annotated Edition Walden, Yale University, 2004.  Edited & annotated by J. S. Cramer, curator of collections, The Thoreau Institute Walden Woods.

Tomorrow:  Thoreau tells us why he went to the woods to live.