None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are.
Interpretation
Thoreau reflects on the superficiality of social interactions and the need for deeper connections.
In this quote, Thoreau critiques the shallow nature of social gatherings, suggesting that frequent meetings among individuals often lack substance and depth. He uses the metaphor of sharing 'old musty cheese' to illustrate how repetitive interactions fail to foster growth or new understanding, indicating that meaningful relationships require time and diversity of experience to develop truly valuable connections.
In practice
In a speech about modern friendships, one might use this quote to emphasize the need for deeper connections.
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
We establish a connection with the unknown through the act of giving something and, paradoxically, the act of destroying something. That is what is behind sacrifice. What you offer and what you destroy, it is that surplus which is life itself.
Not only is the past of a person with no memory inaccessible; his ability to think about the future is imperilled. Time travel, then, is ultimately - and paradoxically - an exercise in remembering. And without that capacity it simply cannot exist.
I thought it very strange, and very sad, that the fairy kingdom largely appears to be English. I thought it was time for some regional representation. And the Nac Mac Feegle are, well, they're like tiny little Scottish Smurfs who have seen Braveheart altogether too many times.
I do not understand how you can associate abortion with an idea of hedonism or the good life.
Free as air; that's what they say- "free as air". Now they bring me my air in an iron barrel.
So long as the laws remain such as they are today, employ some discretion: loud opinion forces us to do so; but in privacy and silence let us compensate ourselves for that cruel chastity we are obliged to display in public.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.