[lovsthosebigdogs]

Originally Posted by uujudy

Senior Citizen, I'm not trying to cause you any unhappiness, but it was actually (my fave) Henry David Thoreau who wrote: "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them."

Judy the happy singer

Actually, I (happily)found this and thought it was interesting enough to pust. Sort of like song lyrics we sing incorrectly in our heads for years, but that's another thread.

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.

Misquotation. The first half of this quotation is a misquotation from Thoreau's Walden:

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.”

Misattribution. Second half of this quotation is misattributed to Thoreau and may be a misquotation or misremembering of Oliver Wendell Holmes' (1809-1894) "The Voiceless":

Alas for those that never sing,
But die with all their music in them