None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
I wish to suggest that a man may be very industrious, and yet not spend his time well. There is no more fatal blunderer than he who consumes the greater part of his life getting his living. All great enterprises are self-supporting. The poet, for instance, must sustain his body by his poetry, as a steam planing-mill feeds its boilers with the shavings it makes. You must get your living by loving.
Interpretation
True fulfillment comes from pursuing what you love rather than merely working for survival.
In this quote, Thoreau emphasizes that merely being industrious does not equate to living well. He argues that individuals should strive to sustain themselves through their passions and pursuits—like a poet who nourishes himself through his art—rather than dedicating their lives solely to the grind of making a living. This speaks to the importance of finding meaning and purpose in one’s work beyond economic necessity.
In practice
During a motivational speech about finding your passion in life.
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
Two very simple rules: _x000D_ A. You don't have to write. _x000D_ B. You can't do anything else _x000D_ The rest comes of itself.
The greatest minds, as they are capable of the highest excellencies, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run, forsake it.
When you're concentrating hard, hours can fly by, and it's just you and a math problem.
It is not the cares of today, but the cares of tomorrow, that weigh a man down. For the needs of today we have corresponding strength given. For the morrow we are told to trust. It is not ours yet. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than a man can bear.
I was looking in the mirror the other day and I realized I haven't changed much since I was in my twenties. The only difference is I look a whole lot older now.
Every man feels instinctively that all the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.
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