None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.
Interpretation
Dreaming is valuable if it doesn't make you lose touch with reality.
This quote by Thoreau emphasizes the importance of balancing dreams and aspirations with an awareness of one's actual circumstances. It suggests that having lofty ideals and ambitions is beneficial, but one must remain grounded in reality to truly appreciate and navigate life effectively.
In practice
A motivational speaker might use this quote to inspire individuals to dream big while staying rooted in reality.
None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling and spending their lives like servants.
An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Have no mean hours, but be grateful for every hour, and accept what it brings. The reality will make any sincere record respectable.
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.
That grand old poem called Winter
The proof of spiritual maturity is not how pure you are but awareness of your impurity. That very awareness opens the door to grace.
Knowledge must come through action. You can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial.
Go where he will, the wise man is at home, His hearth the earth, his hall the azure dome.
Rising early and scorning laziness, remaining calm in time of strife, faultless in conduct and clever in actions. One like this will be praised.
It's not the situation, but whether we react, or respond, to the situation that's important.
Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself; and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license.
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