Quote#Poetry
You might as well think to go in pursuit of the rainbow, and embrace…
Quote byHenry David Thoreau · 1817–1862
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Journals (1838-1859), January 26, 1840.
English (original)
You might as well think to go in pursuit of the rainbow, and embrace it on the next hill, as to embrace the whole of poetry even in thought.
— Henry David Thoreau
More from Henry David Thoreau
The life that I aspire to live No man proposeth me— No trade upon the street Wears its emblazonry.
Let us not underrate the value of a fact; it will one day flower in a truth.
Great God, I ask thee for no meaner pelf Than that I may not disappoint myself, That in my action I may soar as high As I can now discern with this clear eye.
But now I see I was not plucked for naught, And after in life's vase Of glass set while I might survive, But by a kind hand brought Alive To a strange place.
I am a parcel of vain strivings tied By a chance bond together, Dangling this way and that, their links Were made so loose and wide, Methinks, For milder weather.
My books I'd fain cast off, I cannot read, 'Twixt every page my thoughts go stray at large Down in the meadow, where is richer feed, And will not mind to hit their proper targe.