None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Gardening is civil and social, but it wants the vigor and freedom of the forest and the outlaw.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Gardening fosters community and civility but lacks the wildness and freedom found in nature's untamed spaces.
In this quote, Henry David Thoreau contrasts the structured, social activity of gardening with the wild, unrestricted essence of nature represented by forests and outlaws. He suggests that while gardening has its merits in promoting social interaction and civility, it also yearns for the raw vigor and independence that comes from the untamed wilderness, highlighting a tension between civilization and nature's freedom.
Themes
GardeningNatureCivilizationFreedomWildness
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about urban green spaces, one could use this quote to address the balance between community gardens and natural preservation.
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
Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings.
John MuirRead
We have a responsibility to protect the rights of generations, of all species, that cannot speak for themselves today. The global challenge of climate change requires that we ask no less of our leaders, or ourselves.
Wangari MaathaiRead
I love New York on summer afternoons when everyone's away. There's something very sensuous about it - overripe, as if all sorts of funny fruits were going to fall into your hands.
F. Scott FitzgeraldRead
I wanted to know the name of every stone and flower and insect and bird and beast. I wanted to know where it got its color, where it got its life - but there was no one to tell me.
George Washington CarverRead
When I was a boy I first learned how much better water tastes when it has set a while in a cedar bucket. Warmish-cool, with a faint taste like the hot July wind in Cedar trees smells.
William FaulknerRead
How beautiful is the rain!_x000D_ _x000D_ After the dust and the heat,_x000D_ _x000D_ In the broad and fiery street,_x000D_ _x000D_ In the narrow lane,_x000D_ _x000D_ How beautiful is the rain!
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowRead