None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
The boy gathers materials for a temple, and then when he is thirty, concludes to build a woodshed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the contrast between childhood dreams and adult realities.
Henry David Thoreau's quote reflects the journey of ambition and creativity, suggesting that as we grow older, we often abandon our grand visions in favor of more mundane and practical pursuits. The imagery of a boy who dreams of building a temple but only constructs a woodshed speaks to the ways in which society and responsibilities can limit our aspirations, urging us to examine whether we are pursuing our true passions or settling for less.
Themes
DreamsAmbitionCreativityAdulthoodRealities
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about pursuing one's passions, one could use this quote to encourage people to think big.
More from Henry David Thoreau
All quotes βThrough 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
My day passes between logic, whistling, going for walks, and being depressed. I wish to God that I were more intelligent and everything would finally become clear to me - or else that I needn't live much longer.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
I've spent most of my mature life trying to prove that I'm not irresponsible.
Orson WellesRead
Understanding of the self only arises in relationship, in watching yourself in relationship to people, ideas, and things; to trees, the earth, and the world around you and within you. Relationship is the mirror in which the self is revealed. Without self-knowledge there is no basis for right thought and action.
Jiddu KrishnamurtiRead
Man is a noble animal, splendid in ashes, and pompous in the grave.
Thomas BrowneRead
I freely chose the kind of life I led because I was convinced that a woman has as much right as a man to live the way she does if she does no actual harm to society.
Mae WestRead
In the great books of India, an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence, which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the questions that exercise us.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead