Painted portrait of Thoreau with tousled dark hair and a fringe beard, in a dark coat and neckcloth, against a verdigris ground

Portraits · Philosophers & essayists · XII of XII

Henry David Thoreau

1817–1862 · Essayist

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1854

Read it in the source →

Henry David Thoreau wrote this in the Conclusion of Walden, published in 1854, the book of the two years he spent in a house he built himself by Walden Pond.

A dream is not wasted work, he says; it is where the thing begins. The labour is what you put underneath it.

Walden; or, Life in the Woods, 'Conclusion'. First edition (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854), p. 346.

The originals

Daguerreotype of Thoreau with a fringe beard under his chin, in a dark coat — **The likeness**DAGUERREOTYPE BY BENJAMIN D. MAXHAM · 1856Our portrait is painted after it.Public domain (daguerreotype, Worcester, 18 June 1856; digitally restored scan).

The title page of Walden, 1854, with an engraving of a small wooden house among trees — **Walden, 1854**The first edition, Boston, 1854. On the title page is the house he built himself at Walden Pond, where he lived for two years.Walden; or, Life in the Woods, first edition (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854), title page. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.