If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.
Genuine
Yes. In Walden (1854), Chapter 18, “Conclusion”.
Found word for word by program in the full text.
- Work
- Walden (Walden; or, Life in the Woods), 1854
- Where
- Chapter 18, “Conclusion”
- Found at
- Paragraph 514 of the text
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
[…] Shall a man go and hang himself because he belongs to the race of pygmies, and not be the biggest pygmy that he can? Let every one mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made.
Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. It is not important that he should mature as soon as an apple-tree or an oak. Shall he turn his spring into summer? If the condition of things which we were made for is not yet, what were any reality which we can substitute? […]
There was an artist in the city of Kouroo who was disposed to strive after perfection. One day it came into his mind to make a staff. […]
No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. This alone wears well. For the most part, we are not where we are, but in a false position. […]
The scene
In the Conclusion, Thoreau has urged each person to become what he was made to be rather than measure himself against illustrious predecessors. He next questions the haste to succeed and uses music to defend someone moving at a different pace. The paragraph continues with trees maturing in their own time and a warning against replacing genuine possibilities with a false reality.
What it means
A person who seems out of step may be responding to a different, legitimate standard. He should be allowed to follow that rhythm instead of being hurried into conformity.
Often misread
The conditional and tentative wording matters: Thoreau says perhaps, not that every failure to keep pace proves exceptional genius. The surrounding paragraph resists hurried success rather than promising that nonconformity guarantees it.
Topics
Related quotes
- Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined. (paraphrase)
- Dig within. Within is the wellspring of good; and it will ever bubble up, if you will ever dig. (paraphrase) Marcus Aurelius
- Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Imitation is suicide. Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. (not found) Albert Einstein
Sources
Cite it
Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854), Chapter 18, “Conclusion”. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/if-a-man-does-not-keep-pace-with-his-companions/ (31 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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