He's most famous for writing _Walden, or Life in the Woods_ (1854),
about his experiences living by himself in a small cabin by a pond
(small lake).

Crystal quotes some things he wrote about language. I like this:

"One inconvenience I sometimes experienced in so small a house, the
difficulty of getting to a sufficient distance from my guest when we
began to utter the big thoughts in big words....Our sentences wanted
room to unfold and form their columns in the interval. Individuals, like nations, must have suitable broad and natural boundaries, even a
considerable neutral ground, between them. I have found it a singular
luxury to talk across the pond to a companion on the opposite side."

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