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Different Drummers...

Posted by ESC on September 23, 2000

In Reply to: Different Drummers... posted by Susan on September 22, 2000

: Was the phrase "Walking to the beat of a different drummer" an original of Henry David Thoreau's (as used in "Walden") Or did it originate somewhere else?

: Thanks for your help!

According to the Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Fact on File, New York, 1997), Thoreau is the author of that phrase. "hear a different drummer -- The expression is from Henry David Thoreau's 'Walden' : 'If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.' A variation is 'march to a different drummer.'"

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