For more than three dozen years, my life has been deeply influenced by the benign example of Henry David Thoreau. If someone ever puts together a calendar of American saints (not a bad idea) he will surely be among them.
If you have never read his journals, which were first published in 1917 for the centenary of his birth, I highly recommend them. Here is a journal entry from July 24, 1852, that is as alive and pertinent today as when it was written 155 years ago.