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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.
Henry David Thoreau
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Interpretation

What this quote means

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.

Themes

WorkPrideSatisfactionCommitmentExcellence

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech discussing work ethics.

More from Henry David Thoreau

None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
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Through want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling and spending their lives like servants.
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An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
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Have no mean hours, but be grateful for every hour, and accept what it brings. The reality will make any sincere record respectable.
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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.
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That grand old poem called Winter
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