None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another.
Interpretation
Physical effort cannot replace mental or emotional connection between people.
In this quote, Thoreau emphasizes that no matter how much effort we put into physical activities or exertion, it does not necessarily facilitate a deeper understanding or connection between individuals. True closeness comes from engaging thoughts and feelings, suggesting that relationships require more than mere physical presence or interaction; they need emotional and intellectual engagement to thrive.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of emotional intelligence, I could use this quote to illustrate that meaningful relationships go beyond mere physical interaction.
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
Government is a contrivance of human wisdom to provide for human wants.
Let your vision be world embracing rather than confined to your own self.
(The Tao) is always present and always available. . . . If you are willing to be lived by it, you will see it everywhere, even in the most ordinary things.
This whole thing about reality television to me is really indicative of America saying we're not satisfied just watching television, we want to star in our own TV shows. We want you to discover us and put us in your own TV show, and we want television to be about us, finally.
I've always preferred writing about grey characters and human characters. Whether they are giants or elves or dwarves, or whatever they are, they're still human, and the human heart is still in conflict with the self.
Sometimes, they say, the moon is so busy with the new souls of the world that it disappears from the sky. That is why we have moonless nights. But in the end, the moon always returns, as do we all.
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