None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
I have now a library of nearly nine hundred volumes, over seven hundred of which I wrote myself.
Interpretation
Thoreau highlights the value of self-education and personal creation through writing.
In this quote, Thoreau expresses his pride in having created a vast library of his own writings, emphasizing the importance of self-education and intellectual contribution. He suggests that the act of writing not only enriches one's knowledge but also creates a legacy that reflects personal growth and exploration.
In practice
Use this quote to inspire students to engage more deeply with their own writing projects.
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
Until, modern times when it became mostly a civic task, education was considered a sacred work. It was sacred because it involved the indwelling spirit in the student and because it required an awakened spirit in the teachers. Spirit to spirit, genius to genius, soul to soul go the true lessons that help young people become themselves. Ultimately, each person holds the key to the story trying to be lived from within, but first someone else must help unlock the mystery of oneβs life.
We receive three educations, one from our parents, one from our school-masters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us.
Our lives are greatly enriched when we immerse ourselves in literature and spiritual writing, not because we are going to be tested but purely for the sake of enrichment.
It is necessary to study these words you have written, for the words have a longer history than you have and say more than you know.
For the mind does not require filling like a bottle, but rather, like wood, it only requires kindling to create in it an impulse to think independently and an ardent desire for the truth.
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
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