None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
It is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.
Interpretation
Wisdom involves making thoughtful choices rather than acting out of desperation.
This quote by Henry David Thoreau emphasizes that true wisdom includes the restraint from hasty or desperate actions. It suggests that a wise person carefully considers their options rather than succumbing to panic or urgency, thus fostering better decision-making and outcomes.
In practice
During a tough business meeting, one could use this quote to remind everyone to remain calm and think wisely before making choices.
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
Know mankind well, don't degrade every man as evil, and don't exalt every man thinking he is good. He who cannot discover himself; cannot discover the world.
Get work, get work; Be sure 'tis better than what you work to get.
It is not indeed certain, that the most refined caution will find a proper time for bringing a man to the knowledge of his own failing, or the most zealous benevolence reconcile him to that judgment by which they are detected; but he who endeavours only the happiness of him whom he reproves will always have either the satisfaction of obtaining or deserving kindness; if he succeeds, he benefits his friend; and if he fails, he has at least the consciousness that he suffers for only doing well.
To be silent the whole day long, see no newspaper, hear no radio, listen to no gossip, be thoroughly and completely lazy, thoroughly and completely indifferent to the fate of the world is the finest medicine a man can give himself.
If you overesteem great men, people become powerless. If you overvalue possessions, people begin to steal. The Master leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores, by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve. He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire, and creates confusion in those who think that they know. Practice not-doing, and everything will fall into place.
All good is born in prayer, and all good springs from it.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.