None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Observation is so wide awake, and facts are being so rapidly added to the sum of human experience, that it appears as if the theorizer would always be in arrears, and were doomed forever to arrive at imperfect conclusion; but the power to perceive a law is equally rare in all ages of the world, and depends but little on the number of facts observed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Observation and understanding often lag behind the accumulation of facts, highlighting the rarity of true insight.
In this quote, Thoreau reflects on the relationship between empirical observation and the development of theory. He suggests that while facts about the world are constantly being gathered, the ability to truly perceive and understand underlying laws or principles is much rarer. This underscores a philosophical stance that mere data collection is not sufficient for comprehensive understanding; rather, it requires deeper insight that is independent of the quantity of facts observed. Thus, it invites us to consider how wisdom and discernment are crucial in making sense of the world.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on science and philosophy, this quote can emphasize the importance of critical thinking beyond mere data.
More from Henry David Thoreau
All quotes →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
Similar quotes
In our patriarchal world, we are all taught - whether we like to think we are or not - that God, being male, values maleness much more than he values femaleness... that in order to propitiate God, women must propitiate men.
Accept the terrible responsibility of life with eyes wide open.
A society that doesn't know any longer how to observe every death with proper rituals, that does not know that death is not the end, but only part of the journey, has lost its way, has had the very heart of its humanity torn out.
Sometimes you get the cynical person saying, 'Do we really need another book set in Nazi Germany?' But I think you just have to ask, 'Is this a story worth telling?'
Because of its phantom nature, and despite elaborate defense mechanisms, the ego is very vulnerable and insecure, and it sees itself as constantly under threat. This, by the way, is the case even if the ego is outwardly very confident.
Philosophy dwells aloft in the Temple of Science, the divinity of its inmost shrine; her dictates descend among men, but she herself descends not : whoso would behold her must climb with long and laborious effort, nay, still linger in the forecourt, till manifold trial have proved him worthy of admission into the interior solemnities.