Quotations and Literature Forum

My 11th grade English teacher had a good one from Whitman or Thoreau or Emerson or the like, as I remember the quote it went something like "I learned more in one trip around Boston Harbor than I did in all my years of schooling." He's referring to piloting the boat himself. Does anyone know the actual quote and the author? Much gratitude to you if you do!

Thanks,
---Zach

My guess is it came from Thoreau who did extensive sailing around the Cape and Boston. I am attempting to get more research unless your teacher can shed some light on it.

Thanks for looking into this! Unfortunately this teacher has been retired for quite some time, I don't know how I would be able to track her down.

The quote is from the Economy Chapter in Walden.

"To my astonishment I was informed on leaving college that I had studied navigation! -- why, if I had taken one turn down the harbor I should have known more about it. Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably."

You are a gentleperson and a scholar.

Happy new year!

It was a great opportunity having this hear because this help a lot of people out there.

There is one beautiful quote on Boston harbor, you guys must read:

“Each of us is a book waiting to be written, and that book, if written, results in a person explained.”
― Thomas M. Cirignano, The Constant Outsider