None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.
Henry David ThoreauRead
All sound heard at the greatest possible distance produces one and the same effect, a vibration of the universal lyre, just as the intervening atmosphere makes a distant ridge of earth interesting to our eyes by the azure tint it imparts to it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Sound and perception are interconnected, providing a shared experience of the universe.
In this quote, Thoreau emphasizes the profound connection between sound and our sensory experiences of the world. The idea that all sounds, regardless of distance, resonate in a way that unifies our perception suggests a deep harmony in nature, akin to how the atmosphere enhances our visual appreciation of distant landscapes. This perspective invites us to consider how various elements of nature interact to create a unified experience of reality.
Themes
SoundPerceptionNatureUniverseVibration
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental awareness, you could incorporate this quote to highlight the connection between sound and nature.
More from Henry David Thoreau
All quotes →Through 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
There was no air; only the dead, still night fired by the dog days of August. Not a breath. I had to suck in the same air I exhaled, cupping it in my hands before it escaped. I felt it, in and out, less each time…until it was so thin it slipped through my fingers forever. I mean, forever.
Juan RulfoRead
What we make of people, and what we see in the mirror when we look at ourselves, depends on what we know of the world, what we believe to be possible, what memories we have, and whether our loyalties are to the past, the present or the future.
Theodore ZeldinRead
And thus I clothe my naked villainy With odd old ends stol'n out of holy writ; And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.
William ShakespeareRead
As you know, when Star Trek was canceled after the second season, it was the activism of the fans that revived it for a third season.
George TakeiRead
Every thinker puts some portion of an apparently stable world in peril.
John DeweyRead
I'm in favor of destruction, aggression, hating things. Not bearing things anymore. We think the breakdown comes because our life is in bad shape. But maybe the ideas cause the disorder. Something tries to break through and causes the disorder.
James HillmanRead