None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
They take great pride in making their dinner cost much; I take my pride in making my dinner cost so little.
Interpretation
Thoreau values simplicity and frugality over extravagance and social status.
In this quote, Thoreau contrasts two approaches to life: one that finds worth in expensive, extravagant dinners, and another that derives satisfaction from being frugal and resourceful. He emphasizes the idea that true pride comes not from material wealth or the appearance of affluence, but rather from the ability to enjoy life's simple pleasures without incurring unnecessary costs.
In practice
In a discussion about budgeting and meal planning, this quote could highlight the benefits of frugality.
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
There are several good protections against temptation, but the surest is cowardice.
Neither believe nor reject any thing because any other person, or description of persons have rejected or believed it. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by heaven.
To be idle requires a strong sense of personal identity.
I get all my ideas in Switzerland near the Forka Pass. There is a little town called Gletch, and two thousand feet up above Gletch there is a smaller hamlet called Γber Gletch. I go there on the fourth of August every summer to get my cuckoo clock fixed. While the cuckoo is in the hospital, I wander around and talk to the people in the streets. They are very strange people, and I get my ideas from them.
I've had the good fortune of teaching and preaching across much of the globe, while also struggling to make sense of my experience in my own tiny world.
I was raised that way: don't get mad, get smart.
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