Thoreau writes in his journal:
Men are pleased to be called the sons of their fathers,—so little truth suffices them,—and whoever addresses them by this or a similar title is termed a poet. The orator appeals to the sons of Greece, of Britannia, of France, or of Poland; and our fathers’ homely name acquires some interest from the fact that Sakai-suna means sons-of-the-Sakai.
