None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
We soon get through with nature. She excites an expectation which she cannot satisfy.
Interpretation
Nature inspires hope and anticipation, but often leaves us wanting more.
In this quote, Thoreau reflects on the relationship humans have with nature, suggesting that while we are often captivated by its beauty and splendor, there is an inherent frustration in our inability to fully grasp or satisfy our expectations of it. Nature stirs our imagination and desires, yet it remains elusive and beyond our control, highlighting a profound disconnect in our quest for understanding its essence.
In practice
In a discussion about environmental conservation, one might use this quote to highlight our complicated relationship with nature.
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
That's the thing about Mother Nature, she really doesn't care what economic bracket you're in.
I describe myself as an environmentalist not because I'm marching in the street with placards but because I like to be in the woods by myself.
Over the summit, I saw the so-called Mono desert lying dreamily silent in the thick, purple light -- a desert of heavy sun-glare beheld from a desert of ice-burnished granite.
If we had better hearing, and could discern the descants of sea birds, the rhythmic tympani of schools of mollusks, or even the distant harmonics of midges hanging over meadows in the sun, the combined sound might lift us off our feet.
Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
The birth and death of leaves is part of that greater cycle that moves among the stars.
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