Thoreau writes in his journal:
Those great men who are unknown to their own generation are already famous in the society of the great who have gone before them. All worldly fame but subsides from their high estimate beyond the stars. We may still keep pace with those who have gone out of nature, for we run on as smooth ground as they. The early and the latter saints are separated by no eternal interval. The child may soon stand face to face with the best father.
