None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
City life is millions of people being lonesome together.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the paradox of urban living where individuals can feel isolated despite being surrounded by many others.
Henry David Thoreau's quote highlights a profound insight into the nature of city life, where the sheer volume of people can create a sense of loneliness and disconnection among individuals. In a bustling urban environment, the physical proximity of millions does not guarantee emotional or social connection, leading many to experience feelings of solitude even in throngs of bustling crowds. This phenomenon raises questions about the human experience and the fundamental need for meaningful connections in an increasingly crowded world.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about urban development, one might say, 'As Thoreau observed, city life is millions of people being lonesome together, highlighting the need for community spaces.'
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.
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
Similar quotes
The drying up a single tear has more, of honest fame, than shedding seas of gore.
Charity is the cement that unites communities to God and individuals to each other_x000D_ so that he who contributes to the union of hearts in a community_x000D_ binds it indissolubly to God.
For what concerns diversity of rites in the sacred liturgy, the Apostolic See has always made its position clear: not only it does not condemn diversity, but it eagerly and willingly grants to each nation the right to keep and preserve the legitimate customs and traditions of its forbears.
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.
The Word of God can be in the mind without being in the heart; but it cannot be in the heart without first being in the mind.
Let a crown be placed thereon, by which the world may know, that so far as we approve of monarcy, that in America the law is King. For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.