None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Some would find fault with the morning, if they ever got up early enough.. The fault find faults even in Paradise.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that some people will always find something negative, regardless of circumstance or setting.
In this quote, Thoreau expresses the idea that individuals who have a tendency to criticize will always manage to find faults, even in seemingly perfect situations like Paradise. It highlights a universal truth about human nature where negativity can overshadow the beauty of life, suggesting that one's perspective greatly influences their experience of the world.
In practice
During a motivational speech about gratitude, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of perspective.
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 don't set out to save the world; we set out to wonder how other people are doing and to reflect on how our actions affect other people's hearts.
A path is only a path, and there is no affront, to oneself or to others, in dropping it if that is what your heart tells you . . . Look at every path closely and deliberately. Try it as many times as you think necessary. Then ask yourself alone, one question . . . Does this path have a heart? If it does, the path is good; if it doesn't it is of no use.
The greatest thing is to give thanks for everything. He who has learned this knows what it means to live. He has penetrated the whole mystery of life: giving thanks for everything.
Ignorance lies not in the things you don't know, but in the things you know that ain't so.
Every human being on the face of the earth has a steel plate in his head, but if you lie down now and then and get still as you can, it will slide open like elevator doors, letting in all the secret thoughts that have been standing around so patiently, pushing the button for a ride to the top. The real troubles in life happen when those hidden doors stay closed for too long.
Learn that the present hour alone is man's.
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