None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
A man can suffocate on courtesy.
Interpretation
Excessive politeness can be stifling and insincere.
This quote by Henry David Thoreau suggests that extreme displays of courtesy can become overwhelming and may lack genuine emotion. It implies that while politeness is important, an overabundance can hinder true communication and understanding, leading to a sense of suffocation in relationships or social interactions.
In practice
During a meeting, addressing the need for honest feedback despite the courteous atmosphere.
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
Money is a handmaiden, if thou knowest how to use it A mistress, if thou knowest not.
You will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do.
If there was two birds sitting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first.
Seeking is a necessary preliminary to finding, and one who cannot endure the hardship of inquiry cannot expect to harvest the fruit of knowledge.
The search for truth is a cooperative, unending endeavor. We can, and should, engage in it to the extent we can and encourage others to do so as well, seeking to free ourselves from constraints imposed by coercive institutions, dogma, irrationality, excessive conformity and lack of initiative and imagination, and numerous other obstacles.
Remember that not everyone is as strong as you are. Be mindful of human weakness, and of the fact that it may be more important, in the long run, to get many people taking steps in the right direction than to have fewer achieving the ideal.
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