Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end... We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.

Henry David Thoreau

Walden

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More information about this quote

Topic

Can vs. should

Author

Henry David Thoreau

Source

Economy Walden

Genre

Autobiography and memoir

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Occupation

Philosopher Writer

From

United States

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1854.

Current Citation

Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobedience. Signet, 2012.

Illustrated Quote

A quote by Henry David Thoreau about can vs. should: “Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract…”
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A quote by Henry David Thoreau about can vs. should: “Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract…”
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A quote by Henry David Thoreau about can vs. should: “Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract…”
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Another quote from the 1850s

A man who has no mental needs, because his intellect is of the narrow and normal amount, is, in the strict sense of the word, what is called a philistine.

Arthur Schopenhauer

What a Man Is

Read What a Man Is at Project Gutenberg
More information about this quote
Topic
Philistinism

Author

Arthur Schopenhauer
Source
What a Man Is Parerga and Paralipomena
Language
German
Time
1851 1850s 19th century
Authentication Score 2
Original Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Aphorismen zu Lebensweisheit: Bon Dem, was Einer ist [Aphorisms on the Wisdom of Life: What a Man is]." Parerga und Paralipomena. Vol. 1, Berlin: Druck und Verlag von U. W. Haan, 1851.

Current Citation

Schopenhauer, Arthur. "Aphorisms on the wisdom of life." Parerga and Paralipomena, translated by Sabine Roehr and Christopher Janaway. Vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2016.