None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
The savage in man is never quite eradicated.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Human nature contains an inherent wildness that cannot be entirely removed.
The quote by Henry David Thoreau suggests that within every individual lies a primal instinct or savage quality that exists alongside civilization. This inherent aspect of our humanity is not completely erased by societal norms or personal growth, indicating that the wildness of human nature is a fundamental part of who we are, no matter how much we strive for refinement and civility.
Themes
Human NatureSavageryCivilizationInstinctThoreau
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about human instincts during a psychology lecture.
More from Henry David Thoreau
All quotes βThrough want of enterprise and faith men are where they are, buying and selling and spending their lives like servants.
Henry David ThoreauRead
An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Have no mean hours, but be grateful for every hour, and accept what it brings. The reality will make any sincere record respectable.
Henry David ThoreauRead
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.
Henry David ThoreauRead
That grand old poem called Winter
Henry David ThoreauRead
Similar quotes
In general there is something puzzling about the fact that the most renowned figures in chess - Morphy, Pillsbury, Capablanca and Fischer - were born in America.
Garry KasparovRead
It is not necessarily those lands which are the most fertile or most favored in climate that seem to me the happiest, but those in which a long struggle of adaptation between man and his environment has brought out the best qualities of both.
T. S. EliotRead
Nothing will change the fact that I cannot produce the least thing without absolute solitude.
Johann Wolfgang Von GoetheRead
We've been deceived by the thought that we would be more pleasing to God in our own way than in the way God has given us.
St. Catherine Of SienaRead
IT IS TIME THAT WE ALL SEE GENDER AS A SPECTRUM INSTEAD OF TWO SETS OF OPPOSING IDEALS.
Emma WatsonRead
I do not believe in sex distinction in literature, law, politics, or trade - or that modesty and virtue are more becoming to women than to men, but wish we had more of it everywhere.
Belva LockwoodRead