The earth is not a mere fragment of dead history, stratum upon stratum like the leaves of a book, to be studied by geologists and antiquaries chiefly, but living poetry like the leaves of a tree, which precede flowers and fruit,—not a fossil earth, but a living earth; compared with whose great central life all animal and vegetable life is merely parasitic.
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Walden (1854); Exact wording and attribution checked. Personal and figurative observations on nature, wildness, and the author’s life beside Walden Pond.
- Walden (1854)
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