1. With the statement: "Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through simple ignorance and error, are so occupied with the artificial cares and superfluous and gross labors of life that they cannot reap the best fruits thereof" , Thoreau says that many people around the world, including in the United States, are unable to enjoy life because they are too preoccupied with work and wealth to purchase unnecessary goods. Thoreau believes that men need only four things to survive: fuel, food, shelter, and clothing. However, according to Thoreau, people always strive to obtain more and more unnecessary material goods. To obtain these goods, Thoreau writes, "He has no time to be anything but a machine," meaning that men are so busy working to earn too much money that work consumes all their energy. life. Thoreau, on the other hand, ignores "sham worries" like excessive wealth, furniture, and a big house, in order to enjoy life and not be forced to live his life like a machine.2. According to the statement, “public opinion is a weak tyrant compared to our own private opinion. What a man thinks about himself is what determines, or rather indicates, his destiny,” Thoreau believes that the basis of any person's success is his own individual opinion of himself. Thoreau is the perfect example of his own opinion, based on the time he spent living a simple life in Walden Pond. The public had varied opinions about Thoreau's lifestyle, and Thoreau even responds to some criticisms in his essay. However, Thoreau himself was very happy with his lifestyle and he believed that his simple lifestyle was far superior to the seemingly luxurious lifestyle of men, who are actually in debt and tied to a medium of paper. .....are extraordinarily rich. Although the rich try to do good by giving money, in reality the rich simply give their money to people who don't necessarily need it, according to Thoreau. Additionally, Thoreau explains that doing good is not "[feeding] me if I starved, or warming myself if I was cold, or getting me out of a ditch if I fell in" ( Thoreau 54). These actions are not good because they do not set an example. Essentially, Thoreau believed that people should teach others how to solve problems, not solve other people's problems. So, those who do instead of teach are not helping society and therefore are not doing good. By not doing good, these people cause more problems to society instead of helping it, because people who need help do not get what they need..