How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live! – Henry David Thoreau, journal, 1851 August 19th

I believe most distempers proceed from too much sitting still. РMarie de Rabutin-Chantal, letter to her daughter Fran̤oise-Marguerite de S̩vig

I shall be compelled to buy a standing-desk, which will cost me from two to three dollars, as the older students advise me to have one as necessary to my health. – James Stokes Dickerson, letter to brother, 1842 October 13th

[T]hey marched and counter-marched, clapped their hands, stamped hard upon the floor, and performed various evolutions for the purpose of circulating the blood, which by sitting too long is apt to stagnate, and render them, particularly in this climate, dull and sleepy. – Joseph Holt Ingraham, South-West, 1835 [Originally published anonymously, “By a