Henry David Thoreau finds truth in “the wildest dreams of wild men,” even though these truths defy common sense. He is drawn to “wild fancies, which transcend the order of time and development.” All good things, he declares, are wild and free. He rejoices that civilized men, like domestic animals, retain some measure of their innate wildness. Some men possess it to a greater degree than others. All men can fulfill low purposes. Only some — those who are not as suited to civilization as others — can fulfill higher purposes and should not be tamed. Whether or not we acknowledge it, there is a savage in all of us, even the most civilized, and that primal nature will show itself in impassioned or inspired moments. Civilization pulls us from nature — “this vast, savage, howling mother of ours” — and allows only social relations, “interaction man on man.” Civilized life produces a hasty, rushed maturation of the individual, but does not allow the latent development that comes in periods of dormancy.