Yet, for my part, I was never usually squeamish; I could sometimes eat a fried rat with a good relish, if it were necessary. I am glad to have drunk water so long, for the same reason that I prefer the natural sky to an opium-eater’s heaven. I would fain keep sober always; and there are infinite degrees of drunkenness. I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man; wine is not so noble a liquor; and think of dashing the hopes of a morning with a cup of warm coffee, or of an evening with a dish of tea! Ah, how low I fail when I am tempted by them! Even music may be intoxicating. Such apparently slight causes destroyed Greece and Rome, and will destroy England and America. Of all ebriosity, who does not prefer to be intoxicated by the air he breathes? .Henry David Thoreau
About This Quote
Dr. Samuel Johnson, a famous writer and editor in the 18th century, wrote: “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” His idea was that we should be happy when we fall down and try to get up again. We should take advantage of every mistake we make and learn from everything that happens to us. We should be willing to learn from our mistakes and to try again.
Source: Walden
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More Quotes By Henry David Thoreau
- The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed...
- I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours..
- The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.
- It is not worth the while to let our imperfections disturb us always.
- I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.