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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker acknowledges uncertain lifespan but enjoys life fully and has no regrets.
In plain terms
Live fully even if you don’t know how long you’ll live.
What can you take from it?
Embrace each day without regret.

Where it applies

  • facing illness
  • after a major life change
  • in daily routine

Putting it to work

  • practice gratitude
  • let go of past regrets

Questions to consider

  • What does living without regret look like for you?
  • How can you cultivate contentment now?

Another view

Ignoring future concerns can lead to reckless decisions.

More from Henry David Thoreau

  1. Men and boys are learning all kinds of trades but how to make men of themselves. They learn to make houses; but they are not so well housed, they are not so co…

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  2. Truth, Goodness, Beauty - those celestial thrins, Continually are born; e'en now the Universe, With thousand throats, and eke with greener smiles, Its joy conf…

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  3. Let me suggest a theme for you: to state to yourself precisely and completely what that walk over the mountains amounted to for you, - returning to this essay …

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