"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys,……" — Henry David Thoreau

"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at; as railroads lead to Boston or New York. 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

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1,513 Quotes by Henry David Thoreau

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More Arrive Quotes

This quote is filed under Arrive Quotes, one of 740 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:

The ultimate end of human acts is eudaimonia, happiness in the sense of living well, which all men desire; all… — Hannah Arendt
If you're waiting for the perfect moment, you'll never write a thing because it will never arrive. I have no… — Margaret Atwood
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Coping with the demands of everyday life would be exceedingly trying if one could arrive at solutions to problems only… — Albert Bandura
Students now arrive at the university ignorant and cynical about our political heritage, lacking the wherewithal to be either inspired… — Allan Bloom
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Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. — Bill Bradley
When you arrive in England for football it's a paradise. — Eric Cantona
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