try to supply the missing adverb in this sentence from Walden: "I went to the woods because I wished to live more _______________." When I studied Thoreau at the University of Minnesota back in the 1980s, the instructor, John Dolan, hypothesized that casual readers of Walden would be at least ten times more likely to supply a wrong answer--"earnestly," "intensely," "honestly," etc.--than the word Thoreau wrote, which is "deliberately."
Here is the passage Schwinger alluded to in praising Feynman: "If a man does not keep pace with his companion, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer." Having called our attention to "deliberately," Professor Dolan submitted that it would be a mistake to suppose that the sentence about the drummer might be paraphrased "If a man is out of step with his fellows. . . ." For the sentence plainly places the out-of-step man behind his companions. He is, one could say, more deliberate.
Slow down! Take your time! Think--for yourself! Much of the advice imparted by Walden is captured in these simple exhortations.
Is there a concordance to Walden, like there is for the Bible and the works of Shakespeare? I'd be interested in seeing entries for the forms of "deliberate." Oh, well, I'll just reread the book.
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