
The Fireside, Stanza 31, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Source: We'll go asleep, poems and ballads, "Untill she is to close", pg 64
The Fireside, Stanza 31, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
The statement "The future of all life, including our own, depends on our mindful steps." and much of the theme of this essay also occur later in his writings, including The World We Have : A Buddhist Approach to Peace and Ecology (2008), Ch. 1 : The Bells of Mindfulness, p. 3
The Sun My Heart (1996)
Context: All life is impermanent. We are all children of the Earth, and, at some time, she will take us back to herself again. We are continually arising from Mother Earth, being nurtured by her, and then returning to her. Like us, plants are born, live for a period of time, and then return to the Earth. When they decompose, they fertilize our gardens. Living vegetables and decomposing vegetables are part of the same reality. Without one, the other cannot be. After six months, compost becomes fresh vegetables again. Plants and the Earth rely on each other. Whether the Earth is fresh, beautiful, and green, or arid and parched depends on the plants.
It also depends on us. Our way of walking on the Earth has a great influence on animals and plants. We have killed so many animals and plants and destroyed their environments. Many are now extinct. In turn, our environment is now harming us. We are like sleepwalkers, not knowing what we are doing or where we are heading. Whether we can wake up or not depends on whether we can walk mindfully on our Mother Earth. The future of all life, including our own, depends on our mindful steps.
Source: The Way to Life: Sermons (1862), P. 192 (The Example of Christ).
“Dreary it is the path to trace,
Step by step of sin's wild race.”
The Golden Violet - The Ring
The Golden Violet (1827)
“We see the wisest, most intelligent people take steps in life, that we must shake our head over.”
Wir sehen die klügsten, verständigsten Menschen im Leben Schritte tun, über die wir den Kopf schütteln müssen.
Über den Umgang mit Menschen (1788)
Source: Leisure, the Basis of Culture (1948), The Philosophical Act, p. 94