"Virtue is in the Middle" on Henry David Thoreau's "Why I Went into the Woods"

Virtue is in the Middle "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!" The one word that sums up Henry David Thoreau's answer as to why he went to the woods. Such a significant phrase was uncommon and especially outdated during the peak of the Industrial Revolution when he wrote it. With light bulbs replacing candles and locomotives replacing horses, life for the average man began to get easier. Or did it? In his essay "Why I Went to the …

…lives and complicate them, but humans should strive to improve as much as they can. Look how far we have come from the age of cavemen, and imagine where we could be in thirty years (unless Thoreau persuaded enough people to simplicity). In the end, a balance between man's physical needs and those of his spirit must be balanced, especially in this modern age of technology. As Aristotle put it, "Virtue is in the middle."