梭羅在《湖濱散記》中說：

The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by the way are all external and superficial, is just such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps, ruined by luxury and heedless expense, by want of calculation and a worthy aim, as the million households in the land; and the only cure for it, as for them, is in a rigid economy, a stern and more than Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.

（國家就是這麼一個笨重、過度發展的編制，所說的內部改革，實際上只是表面膚淺的作為。就像領土裡上百萬個家庭一樣，因為沒有好好精打細算、也沒有崇高目標，裡面堆滿了家具，被自己所設的陷阱絆倒，被奢華和恣意的花費所摧毀；國家和那些家庭的唯一藥方，就是要嚴厲控管經濟，生活要比斯巴達還要嚴格地簡樸，並且好好提升目標。）

以前念梭羅，總看著他如何形容自然的美麗，看不懂複雜的句法，也看不懂他的政治訴求，現在終於看懂了。