"Books, the oldest and the best, stand naturally and rightfully on the shelves of every cottage... Their authors are a natural and irresistible aristocracy in every society, and, more than kings and emperors, exert an influence on mankind."
Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, naturalist, and philosopher associated with Transcendentalism. He is best known for Walden and Civil Disobedience, works that influenced environmental thought and civil rights movements.