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
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.
In practice
In a speech about urban green spaces, one could use this quote to address the balance between community gardens and natural preservation.
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
I believe climate change is real and that we can save our planet while creating millions of good-paying clean energy jobs.
It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you wantβoh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!
We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.
It is estimated that one-third of all reef-building corals, a third of all fresh-water mollusks, a third of sharks and rays, a quarter of all mammals, a fifth of all reptiles, and a sixth of all birds are headed toward oblivion. The losses are occurring all over: in the South Pacific and in the North Atlantic, in the Arctic and the Sahel, in lakes and on islands, on mountaintops and in valleys.
Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.
Great oaks grow from little acorns. He has a green thumb. He has green fingers. He's sowing his wild oats. Here Ceres' gifts in waving prospect stand, And nodding tempt the joyful reaper's hand.
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