None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfaction - a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the muse.
Interpretation
Strive for excellence in your work so that it brings you satisfaction and pride.
This quote by Henry David Thoreau emphasizes the importance of commitment and diligence in one's work. It suggests that one should approach their tasks with sincerity and care, ensuring that they feel a sense of pride and fulfillment in what they have accomplished, even to the point of reflecting on it during moments of rest.
In practice
During a motivational speech discussing work ethics.
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
To an active mind, indolence is more painful than labor.
Since you are the one who has to live with your choices, be sure they are your own.
The strong man is the one who is able to intercept at will the communication between the senses and the mind.
For any practice to work, the mind which is meditating on the object must merge. Often they are facing each other. One has to become completely absorbed, then the transformation will occur.
The thing about light is that it really isn’t yours; it’s what you gather and shine back. And it gets more power from reflectiveness; if you sit still and take it in, it fills your cup, and then you can give it off yourself.
Cleverness is a burden after that. You are supposed to settle down and be a good person, raise your children, and be good to your friends, which you may not have been back when you were clever.
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