Beard of Action: Henry David Thoreau

I went to the woods [and grew a beard] because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary.

— Henry David Thoreau, Walden