None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
We soon get through with nature. She excites an expectation which she cannot satisfy.
Interpretation
Nature inspires hope and anticipation, but often leaves us wanting more.
In this quote, Thoreau reflects on the relationship humans have with nature, suggesting that while we are often captivated by its beauty and splendor, there is an inherent frustration in our inability to fully grasp or satisfy our expectations of it. Nature stirs our imagination and desires, yet it remains elusive and beyond our control, highlighting a profound disconnect in our quest for understanding its essence.
In practice
In a discussion about environmental conservation, one might use this quote to highlight our complicated relationship with nature.
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
Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same.
I care to live only to entice people to look at Natureβs loveliness.
The future will belong to the nature-smart...Th e more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.
There are some dogs which, when you meet them, remind you that, despite thousands of years of man-made evolution, every dog is still only two meals away from being a wolf. These dogs advance deliberately, purposefully, the wilderness made flesh, their teeth yellow, their breath a-stink, while in the distance their owners witter, "He's an old soppy really, just poke him if he's a nuisance," and in the green of their eyes the red campfires of the Pleistocene gleam and flicker.
Maybe nature is fundamentally ugly, chaotic and complicated. But if it's like that, then I want out.
Since oceans are the life support system of our planet, regulating the climate, providing most of our oxygen and feeding over a billion people, what's bad for oceans is bad for us - very bad.
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