None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
What is a country without rabbits and partridges? They are among the most simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and venerable families known to antiquity as to modern times; of the very hue and substance of Nature, nearest allied to leaves and to the ground.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote reflects on the importance of simple, natural elements of a country, emphasizing their deep-rooted connection to its identity.
Henry David Thoreau's quote highlights the intrinsic value of simple, native wildlife like rabbits and partridges in defining a country's essence. Through this analogy, he underscores the deep relationship between nature and culture, suggesting that these creatures represent a continuity of life and a connection to the earth, which is essential for understanding what a country truly embodies.
Themes
CountryNatureWildlifeIdentitySimplicity
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech at a conservation event, one could invoke this quote to emphasize the importance of preserving local wildlife.
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
Nature does not know extinction; all it knows is transformation. ... Everything science has taught me-and continues to teach me-strengthens my belief in the continuity of our spiritual existence after death. Nothing disappears without a trace.
Wernher Von BraunRead
Oh, these vast, calm, measureless mountain days, days in whose light everything seems equally divine, opening a thousand windows to show us God.
John MuirRead
What if you have seen it before, ten thousand times over? An apple tree in full blossom is like a message, sent fresh from heaven to earth, of purity and beauty.
Henry Ward BeecherRead
I would prefer to stay up and watch the stars than sleep.
Vera RubinRead
Consider the nematode roundworm, the most abundant of all animals. Four out of five animals on Earth are nematode worms — if all solid materials except nematode worms were to be eliminated, you could still see the ghostly outline of most of it in nematode worms.
E. O. WilsonRead
You know what a lima bean does when it's attacked by spider mites? It releases this volatile chemical that goes out into the world and summons another species of mite that comes in and attacks the spider mite, defending the lima bean. So what plants have - while we have consciousness, toolmaking, language, they have biochemistry.
Michael PollanRead