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
The easiest way to solve a problem is to deny it exists.
The trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast, and you miss all you are traveling for.
It's possible to fight intolerance, stupidity and fanaticism when they come separately. When you get all three together it's probably wiser to get out, if only to preserve your sanity.
Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh.
An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind. It is not satisfied with explanation, with conclusions. Nor is it a mind that believes, because belief is again another form of conclusion.
The right to know is like the right to live. It is fundamental and unconditional in its assumption that knowledge, like life, is a desirable thing.
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