None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
How can we expect a harvest of thought who have not had a seedtime of character?
Interpretation
Character development is essential for intellectual growth.
Henry David Thoreau suggests that in order to foster a fruitful and productive mindset, one must first cultivate their character. Just as a seed must be planted and nurtured for a successful harvest, individuals need to develop their values and principles to nurture their thoughts and ideas.
In practice
This quote can be used during a motivational speech about personal development.
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
Because in some men it is in them to give up everything personal at some time, before it ferments and poisons--throw it to some human being or some human idea. They have to.
This whole religion revolves around knowing the truth and acting by it, and action must be accompanied by patience.
We all long for Eden, and we are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature at its best and least corrupted, its gentlest and most human, is still soaked with the sense of exile.
Soft-brained people, weak-minded, chicken-hearted , cannot find the truth. One has to be free, and as broad as the sky.
The most dangerous of devotions, in my opinion, is the one endemic to Christianity: I was not born to be of this world. With a second life waiting, suffering can be endured - especially in other people. The natural environment can be used up. Enemies of the faith can be savaged and suicidal martyrdom praised.
People are composed of many things, and in my work, what influences me is the complexity of people - the chiaroscuro of dark and light. When I play a strong guy, I try to find, where is he weak? And, conversely, when I play a weak guy, where is he strong?
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