Can You Feel Anything When I Do This?
“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”
Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) 1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitionist
Misquotation of a line from Walden cited above, with the addition of a spurious ending. For this and other misattributions, see: The Henry D. Thoreau Mis-Quotation Page http://www.walden.org/thoreau/mis-quotations/ <br class="br">Misattributed
“Nowadays most men lead lives of noisy desperation.”
James Thurber (1894–1961) American cartoonist, author, journalist, playwright
"The Grizzly and the Gadgets", The New Yorker (date unknown); Further Fables for Our Time (1956); This statement is derived from one of Henry David Thoreau: "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
From Fables for Our Time and Further Fables for Our Time
Michael Nava (1954) American writer
Source: Non-fiction, Created equal: Why gay rights matter to America (1994), p.53
“Most men mock what they can never aspire to.”
David Gemmell book Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf
Source: Drenai series, Waylander II: In the Realm of the Wolf, Ch. 3
“Most of us live betwixt quiet despair and furious nihilism.”
Albert Caraco (1919–1971) French-Uruguayan philosopher
Source: Ma confession (1975), p. 94
“There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.”
Lin Yutang book The Importance of Living
Source: The Importance of Living (1937), p. 224
Roger Scruton (1944–2020) English philosopher
"How to be a Non-Liberal, Anti-Socialist Conservative," Intercollegiate Review: A Journal of Scholarship and Opinion (Spring 1993).
Patañjali (-200–-150 BC) ancient Indian scholar(s) of grammar and linguistics, of yoga, of medical treatises
Patanjali, in “The Little Red Book of Yoga Wisdom], p. 24.
Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate
Source: Why Men Earn More (2005), p. xvii.
