None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
The cost of a thing is something called life which is given in exchange for it.
Interpretation
The value of an item is measured by the life experience and effort invested in obtaining it.
This quote by Henry David Thoreau suggests that every possession or achievement comes at the cost of life's time and energy. It emphasizes that the true price of something is not just monetary; it is the life and experiences we trade for it, prompting deeper reflection on what we truly value in our lives and how we choose to spend our time.
In practice
During a lecture on consumerism, a speaker might use this quote to highlight the importance of being mindful of what one spends time and money on.
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
I had a friend who was a heavy drinker. If somebody asked him if he'd been drunk the night before, he would always answer offhandedly, 'Oh, I imagine.' I've always liked that answer. It acknowledges life as a dream.
I am in no way different from anyone else, that my predicament, my sense of aloneness or isolation may be precisely what unites me with everyone.
There's enough food in this world. There's enough housing in this world. There's enough shelter in this world. There's enough clothing in this world. There's enough teachers, there's enough universities for everybody's needs to be met, and the reasons they aren't is not because of lack of resources. It's because of distribution, and that's the politics of hate, which is why this is a movement against that. It's a politics of love.
I think most of us are outsiders. And I think that's good because it makes you question things.
Maybe we spend most of our decades being someone else, avoiding ourselves, maybe a man is only himself, his true self, for a few days in his entire life.
It isn't those who are taken by force, put in chains, and sold as slaves who are the real slaves; it is those who will accept it, morally and physically.
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