None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Not till we are completely lost, or turned round, do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of Nature.
Interpretation
We often fail to appreciate the beauty and complexity of nature until we find ourselves disoriented within it.
This quote reflects on the idea that true appreciation for the natural world often comes not from familiarity, but from moments of disorientation and challenge. When faced with the vastness and unpredictability of nature, we are compelled to confront its beauty and strangeness, leading to a deeper understanding and respect for the environment around us.
In practice
In a discussion about the beauty of hiking in the wilderness.
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
The sharp thorn often produces delicate roses.
Down the hill I went, and then, I forgot the ways of men, For night-scents, heady and damp and cool Wakened ecstasy
Destroying a tropical rainforest for profit is like burning all the paintings of the Louvre to cook dinner.
Presence is needed to become aware of the Beauty, the Majesty, the Sacredness of Nature
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their families, their histories too. Talk to them, listen to them. They are alive poems.
The worst thing that will probably happen-in fact is already well underway-is not energy depletion, economic collapse, conventional war, or the expansion of totalitarian governments. As terrible as these catastrophes would be for us, they can be repaired in a few generations. The one process now going on that will take millions of years to correct is loss of genetic and species diversity by the destruction of natural habitats. This is the folly our descendants are least likely to forgive us.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.