I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
我步入丛林，是因为我希望从容不迫地生活，只去面对生命中那些至关重要的本质，看看我能否学到生命要传授的智慧；免得等到我临终之际，才猛然发现自己从未真正活过。
I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life.
我不愿过那种根本不能称之为生活的生活，毕竟活着是如此宝贵；我也不愿向命运妥协臣服，除非已到了万不得已的关头。我想深深地扎进生活，吸尽生命中全部的骨髓，像坚毅的斯巴达人那样强悍地活，把一切非生命本质的东西彻底击溃驱逐。
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail.
简单，简单，再简单！我说，让你的事务保持在两三件即可，切莫纠缠于百件千桩；与其算计百万，不如数数半打，把你的账目精简到能记在拇指指甲盖上。
Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!
我们的生命在琐碎的细节中被白白消磨耗尽。一个坦荡诚实的人，几乎只需数清自己的十根手指便足够，在极特殊的情况下，再添上十根脚趾即可，其余杂物尽可一概归并。简单，简单，再简单！