None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Thoreau expresses the value and comfort he finds in solitude over social company.
In this quote, Henry David Thoreau emphasizes the significance of solitude in one's life. He suggests that while companionship can be enjoyable, it often leads to weariness and distractions. Thoreau argues that solitude is not only a refuge but also a more profound and fulfilling form of companionship. His reflection highlights the importance of self-discovery and personal peace that can be achieved through spending time alone.
Themes
SolitudeCompanionshipSelf-DiscoveryPeaceLoneliness
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about the importance of self-reflection and solitude.
More from Henry David Thoreau
All quotes →Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling and spending their lives like servants.
Henry David ThoreauRead
An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Have no mean hours, but be grateful for every hour, and accept what it brings. The reality will make any sincere record respectable.
Henry David ThoreauRead
As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of Chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.
Henry David ThoreauRead
That grand old poem called Winter
Henry David ThoreauRead
Similar quotes
Look at your life in contrast with the magnitude of creation, space and time. Your life becomes insignificant. Ego disappears.
Sri Sri Ravi ShankarRead
I spent a long time looking at faces, drinking in smiles. Am I happy or unhappy? It’s not a very important question. I live with such frenzied intensity. Things and people are waiting for me, and doubtless I am waiting for them and desiring them with all my strength and sadness. But, here, I earn the right to be alive by silence and by secrecy. The miracle of not having to talk about oneself.
Albert CamusRead
Catastrophe is the essence of the spiritual path, a series of breakdowns allowing us to discover the threads that weave all of life into a whole cloth.
Joan HalifaxRead
Whether wine is a nourishment, medicine or poison is a matter of dosage
ParacelsusRead
God is to be praised with the voice, and the heart should go therewith in holy exultation.
Charles SpurgeonRead
Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
Bertrand RussellRead