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About this quote

What does it mean?
Thoreau questions what truly matters beyond superficial concerns, urging deep questioning of our values.
In plain terms
He asks us to look beyond surface interests to deeper truths.
What can you take from it?
Seek deeper meaning instead of shallow concerns.

Where it applies

  • personal reflection
  • academic discussion

Putting it to work

  • journaling
  • meditation

Questions to consider

  • What are your deepest concerns?
  • How do you differentiate surface from core values?

Another view

The phrase is vague and can be hard to apply concretely.

More from Henry David Thoreau

  1. As if our birth had at first sundered things, and we had been thrust up through into nature like a wedge, and not till the wound heals and the scar disappears,…

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  2. It is so rare to meet with a man out-doors who cherishes a worthy thought in his mind, which is independent of the labor of his hands.

    Permalink to quote #101
  3. The unconsciousness of man is the consciousness of God.

    Permalink to quote #98

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