None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
Our science, so called, is always more barren and mixed with error than our sympathies.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Thoreau suggests that human emotions and connections often hold more truth than the flawed nature of scientific knowledge.
In this quote, Thoreau argues that the scientific understanding of the world is filled with inaccuracies and limitations, while our emotional connections and sympathies offer a deeper and more genuine insight into life. He highlights the importance of human empathy and understanding over mere empirical data, suggesting that feelings can lead us to a more meaningful existence.
Themes
ScienceEmotionsTruthSympathyUnderstanding
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the limitations of scientific research in addressing human issues, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of empathy.
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
Imprisoned in every fat man a thin man is wildly signaling to be let out.
Cyril ConnollyRead
Adding to your list of enemies is never a sound strategy, yet ISIS' ferocious campaign against the Shia, Kurds, Yazidis, Christians, and Muslims who don't precisely share its views has united every ethnic and religious group in Syria and Iraq against them.
Peter BergenRead
I wanted all things to seem to make some sense, So we could all be happy, yes, instead of tense. And I made up lies, so they all fit nice, and I made this sad world a paradise
Kurt VonnegutRead
A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People ask why we have no typical architecture of the modern world, like impressionism in painting. Surely it is obviously because we have not enough dogmas; we cannot bear to see anything in the sky that is solid and enduring, anything in the sky that does not change like the clouds of the sky.
Gilbert K. ChestertonRead
All stories are true,β Skarpi said. βBut this one really happened, if thatβs what you mean.β He took another slow drink, then smiled again, his bright eyes dancing. βMore or less. You have to be a bit of a liar to tell a story the right way. Too much truth confuses the facts. Too much honesty makes you sound insincere.
Patrick RothfussRead
Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.
Francois De La RochefoucauldRead