We may imagine a time when, in the infancy of the human race, some enterprising mortal crept into a hollow in a rock for shelter. Every child begins the world again, to some extent, and loves to stay outdoors, even in wet and cold. It plays house, as well as horse, having an instinct for it. Who does not remember the interest with which, when young, he looked at shelving rocks, or any approach to a cave? It was the natural yearning of that portion, any portion of our most primitive ancestor which still survived in us. From the cave we have advanced to roofs of palm leaves, of bark and boughs, of linen woven and stretched, of grass and straw, of boards and shingles, of stones and tiles. At last, we know not what it is to live in the open air, and our lives are domestic in more senses than we think. From the hearth the field is a great distance. It would be well, perhaps, if we were to spend more of our days and nights without any obstruction between us and the celestial bodies, if the poet did not speak so much from under a roof, or the saint dwell there so long. Birds do not sing in caves, nor do doves cherish their innocence in dovecots.
摩訶僧祇律第二卷記載著，一開始人之所以會蓋房子居住，是因為作了讓自己覺得慚愧的事，所以跑去藏起來不讓人看到；藏久了，才有了起造房子的念頭。現代人卻以擁有房子為人生奮鬥第一目標，有錢人則競相購買豪宅來顯示自己的身份地位。富人真的是應該覺得慚愧，所以必須買豪宅把自己藏起來。 「人類的進步一定要把吃肉的習慣拋掉，如同野蠻人和比較文明的人結交久了以後，逐漸把人吃人的習慣拋棄掉一樣。」梭羅如是說。總有一天，人類也會進步到自覺太過富有是一件羞恥的事；因為，只要你吃葷，就有人會為你殘忍的殺生；只要你過於富有，就有人因之挨餓受凍。
