None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
I lived in Judea eighteen hundred years ago, but I never knew that there was such a one as Christ among my contemporaries.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the idea of being unaware of significant truths or figures in one's time.
Henry David Thoreau's quote emphasizes the disconnect that can exist between an individual and profound societal influences or truths, even when they are present in their immediate environment. It suggests that one can live through major historical or spiritual experiences and remain oblivious to their significance, highlighting the importance of awareness and perception in understanding one's context.
In practice
During a lecture on historical figures, one could use this quote to illustrate the theme of unnoticed greatness.
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
Death and vulgarity are the only two facts in the nineteenth century that one cannot explain away.
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
Some people seem to believe that for each problem there is a solution readily available - a solution that can be promptly achieved by passing a law and voting some money. I think of this as the vending machine concept of social change. Put a coin in the machine and out comes a piece of candy. If there is a social problem, pass a law and out comes a solution.
Which of us can resist the temptation of being thought indispensable?
Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens. This is a state of things in which it may be said with some truth that laws are made for the few not for the many.
Winning gives birth to hostility Losing, one lies down in pain. The calmed lie down with ease, having set winning and losing aside.
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