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I believe you are thinking of Henry David Thoreau, the author of _Walden_ and a friend of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the author of the linked "Self Reliance."

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Hoooly crap, whoops! I always get those two mixed up.

My apologies.

You may enjoy HN darling(?) Pinboard's 2013 talk on Thoreau and his phoniness: (https://idlewords.com/talks/thoreau_2.0.htm)

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