Repug's Signiture

[THEINCREDIBLEdork]

Originally Posted by Henry David Thoreau

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.

Anyone who wishes to participate is free to submit a 200 - 500 (inclusive) word essay on what this quote means. At 11pm EST tomorrow I will choose the best submission and award the winner with +internets.

The number of word constraint will be strictly enforced and if you fall outside that boundary or plagiarize I will take away your internets without even thinking twice!

[f3lix]

A well written 100 word essay would take 200 words if written poorly with excessive bull shit added in for length.

[Ugly Bastard]

Man, this is a tough one. I'll give it a shot:

I think Thoreau might have been suggesting that most men live their lives much different from what their dreams are as a result of allowing fear to keep them from seeking these dreams. Breaking away from this fear requires a complete leap into thin air and much faith in yourself. He is suggesting that most men never make this leap, and instead continue working their shitty jobs while mostly suffocating their wishes to change careers, journey around the world, take better care of themselves, leave their wife, whatever. The result of not following these dreams leads to a feeling of depravity which are mostly kept quiet as the result of an inner understanding that it is no fault of anyone's but their own.

The opportunity cost of following our true desires, while ultimately, of course, is nothing, seems quite large in all but the most profound of moments. Because of this, we let inertia and the tendency to "keep the peace" prevent us from ever taking a shot. It takes a lot of courage to journey the path less traveled and a lot of vision to realize this is the only way to true happiness. Rather than take this path, we allow our fears of loneliness, nonacceptance, failure, and ridicule keep us quietly doing just enough to get by; all the while, our soul desperately yearns for more.

[THEINCREDIBLEdork]

Fine effort UB. Who else dares to grab the torch?

Originally Posted by f3lix

A well written 100 word essay would take 200 words if written poorly with excessive bull shit added in for length.

maybe I am looking for some extra fluff... imo it takes skills, no matter how practical they may be, to take a 7 word sentence and BS it into a 500 word paragraph.

[Mr. Blonde]

What else is college for?

[hfam95]

Nothing profound by HDT. He just liked the way the words sounded together. Was great inspiration for Pink Floyd lyrics.

I think the full quote is something like: Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and die with their song still unsung. Or some shit like that.

Can't remember if that wasn't somebody else (Waters, Gilmour?) paraphrasing an earlier Thoreau quote either. The original Walden quote that this quote references spells it out. Quiet desperation is essentially giving up. Resignation = confirmed desperation.

American Lit was required back in the day at some colleges.

[tonguegina]

The quote refers to the inner monologue of man. The conscious. The voice that convinces us to do what we do and do not do. More importantly it refers to man’s self confidence and belief in not only who they are and what they do, but who they could be and what they could do. Their personal belief in their potential.

Thoreau’s full quote gives a much clearer view of his message. “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” This implies that the voice is right, but most men ignore it. If everyone created everything that they came up with, there would be a lot of crap to wade through, but think of the paintings that have never been painted, the songs that have never been performed, the books, poems, and films that have not been written. The average adult is said to have three ideas worth a million dollars each year, but most of these are clearly under-developed, under-appreciated, or unrealized.

Obviously it comes down to the individual’s belief in himself to whether or not he listens to his conscious. Thoreau’s quote is almost inspirational; to forget what others think and ignore the impulse to do the easy thing and remain silent.

[hfam95]

The original quote from "Walden" seems self explanatory:

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation."

I think Tongue got the later complete repug/2 blackeyes signature quote correct. I can't for fucks sake remember if it was actually HDT who did both. Just remember it was covered in class.

I damn sure caught the 1972 DSOTM variation correct.

[f3lix]

Originally Posted by Mr. Blonde

What else is college for?

In Undergrad, I learned how to BS for pages.

In Grad, I learned that fluff and flowery prose doesn't do shit. I now find it quite difficult to write two GOOD pages.

[Cocktooth]

Originally Posted by f3lix

In Undergrad, I learned how to BS for pages.

In Grad, I learned that fluff and flowery prose doesn't do shit. I now find it quite difficult to write two GOOD pages.

Or 2 good posts.

[hfam95]

Originally Posted by Shaw

Or 2 good posts.

zing.

[f3lix]

Originally Posted by Shaw

Or 2 good posts.

Good to see you finally learned which form of the two, to, too to use. Although, it might have been as lucky as your "male" comment from a week ago.

[Repugnant Abomination]

I could probably answer this best, but I'll give the kids a chance first.

[THEINCREDIBLEdork]

Keep in mind I take in consideration the order of which entries are submitted, if you are last your submission should be an indisputable (NFL) step above the others.

[Repugnant Abomination]

Let me guess...You have a term paper due on Thoreau and don't want to write it yourself.

[THEINCREDIBLEdork]

Nope this is just for fun, and I wanted to know what it meant.

[hfam95]

Originally Posted by Repugnant Abomination

I could probably answer this best, but I'll give the kids a chance first.

Anybody who still has their Am. Lit book could. There's been a commentaries in the last 150+ years since Walden was first published.

[Repugnant Abomination]

And why don't you have yours? I can't imagine throwing out an anthology of American literature.

[hfam95]

It must've been lost in the fire. Are you certain that the quote in your sig is actually from H.D. Thoreau? If so where's it from?

It looks like a paraphrase of the Walden quote.

mea culpa: your sig, while still technically not an accurate quote, doesn't have the song/grave stuff.

[Repugnant Abomination]

You're showing your ignorance, sir. The quote is from a book he wrote recounting his experiences living at Walden's pond, titled, Walden.

[hfam95]

Originally Posted by Repugnant Abomination

You're showing your ignorance, sir. The quote is from a book he wrote recounting his experiences living at Walden's pond, titled, Walden.

I'm familiar with Walden. You sig line says something about "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation" Where is that in Walden? That, my literature guru friend, is not technically a correct quote. It's close enough so I really don't give a fuck. Just don't tell me about my ignorance in this case. It's easy to just look up Walden. The correct quote is on one of the first couple of pages. Here it is for quick reference:

"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."

I'm thinking the “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.” is a later quote, a paraphrase, or a flat out misquote. I'm thinking it's the latter, but I really don't remember. I kinda recall that he later wrote all sorts of shit in essay and it looks familiar --maybe one of those Civil Disobedience types of writings.

[Landing Strip]

Originally Posted by hfam95

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."

Totally was about to correct the quote.

Edit: I was going to give the url to a website that would thoroughly explain the quotation, but reread the criteria for this project and saw that ID would take away all my internets.

[THEINCREDIBLEdork]

Thank you to all who participated. It was a close race between UB and Tongue, maybe if Tongue would have delved into how Henry was lead to this conclusion the decision would have leaned his way.

UB +1

[Mr. Blonde]

I enjoy good literature, but I like Hfam's application of the quote in his signature best. God I love Pink Floyd.

Regardless, good call UB. Your response, as well as the response of others is directly tied to the discussion we are having in the "Happy Birthday" thread. Too many people are, put bluntly, scared shitless to take the leaps they really want to do because of the lack of security it gives. Some part of us, either conditioned or instinctual, are so afraid of failing or being miserable after taking that leap that instead of rather take the risk, (which, granted, could be devastating to ones life, so its hard to judge people who do this...especially since it seems to affect 99% of the human population) they live their entire lives, or at least a large portion of it in a place they are "okay" with, with a person they "like well enough", working a job that "isn't horrible", because of the security (perceived or otherwise) that they feel in that particular spot.

The real question is, who is right? Who is sane? Those who stay in interest of self-preservation (arguably the only logical reason for existing at this stage in human evolution...survival, don't die, reproduce, rinse, repeat), or those who throw caution to the wind and decide to say "fuck it" and go for their dreams anyways.

Sure, taking that gigantic leap takes tons of balls and probably a good deal of madness in most cases, but in some of those it can turn out to be very rewarding. Unfortunately, said cases are the most prominent in the public eye. We rarely see stories of those who took gigantic risks and ended up failing miserably, besides in the form of either suicide or lonely, single, eccentric and socially awkward 50 year olds.


And that's my post.

[Dent]

The pink floyd quote just reminds me of barebacking an ugly chick.