None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
It is better to have your head in the clouds, and know where you are... than to breathe the clearer atmosphere below them, and think that you are in paradise.
Interpretation
Dreaming is valuable if it doesn't make you lose touch with reality.
This quote by Thoreau emphasizes the importance of balancing dreams and aspirations with an awareness of one's actual circumstances. It suggests that having lofty ideals and ambitions is beneficial, but one must remain grounded in reality to truly appreciate and navigate life effectively.
In practice
A motivational speaker might use this quote to inspire individuals to dream big while staying rooted in reality.
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
Here I am, fifty-eight, and I still don't know what I'm going to be when I grow up.
There are good reasons for being obedient, but being unable to be disobedient is not one of the best reasons.
I have learned that one cannot truly know hope unless he has found out how like despair hope is.
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control; these three alone lead one to sovereign power.
Civilized discourse demands critical thinking, self-reflexiveness, sober-headed analysis.
The important thing is to know how to take all things quietly.
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