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if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours
Thoreau is sometimes mistakenly thought of as a sort of hermit or vagabond, but in fact he was completely serious about carrying on the family business, a factory producing pencils. He made significant improvements in their manufacture and engineered a machine for grinding "plumbago" ([[graphite]]) more finely to produce a higher-quality "lead". Thoreau pencils were regarded as being among the best-manufactured in the U.S.<ref>Petroski, Henry (1989), "H. D. Thoreau, Engineer." ''American Heritage of Invention and Technology,'' volume 5, issue 2[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1989/2]</ref><!--Also in Petroski's 1992 book, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance"--->
Thoreau is sometimes mistakenly thought of as a sort of hermit or vagabond, but in fact he was completely serious about carrying on the family business, a factory producing pencils. He made significant improvements in their manufacture and engineered a machine for grinding "plumbago" ([[graphite]]) more finely to produce a higher-quality "lead". Thoreau pencils were regarded as being among the best-manufactured in the U.S.<ref>Petroski, Henry (1989), "H. D. Thoreau, Engineer." ''American Heritage of Invention and Technology,'' volume 5, issue 2[http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/1989/2]</ref><!--Also in Petroski's 1992 book, "The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance"--->
==Quotes==
"I learned this at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."
When asked, on his deathbed, whether he had made his peace with God, Thoreau responded, "I did not know we had ever quarreled."
When asked, on his deathbed, whether he had made his peace with God, Thoreau responded, "I did not know we had ever quarreled."
{{cquote|"looking through the stars to see if I could see God behind them."
{{cquote|"looking through the stars to see if I could see God behind them."
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From ''A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers ''
From ''A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers ''