“It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?”

— Henry David Thoreau , Letters to Various Persons

Letter to Harrison Blake (16 November 1857)
Source: Letters to Various Persons

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is not enough to be industrious; so are the ants. What are you industrious about?" by Henry David Thoreau?

Henry David Thoreau 385

1817-1862 American poet, essayist, naturalist, and abolitio… 1817–1862

Related quotes

“European public opinion will apparently tolerate people being fired in industries where they really care about performance. Unfortunately the only industry they care enough about so far is soccer.”

Paul Graham (1964) English programmer, venture capitalist, and essayist

"Why Startups Condense in America" http://www.paulgraham.com/america.html, May 2006

“For Dostoevsky, Fourier is one of the industrious ant-hill engineers, busy, protected by the delusion that his goal, the will-ordered society, is the summation of all his desires.”

John Carroll (1944) Australian professor and author

Source: Break-Out from the Crystal Palace (1974), p. 152

“In what can it be so useful, as in prompting and improving the efforts of industry?”

Alexander Hamilton Report on Manufactures

Report on Manufactures (1791)
Context: In countries where there is great private wealth, much may be effected by the voluntary contributions of patriotic individuals; but in a community situated like that of the United States, the public purse must supply the deficiency of private resource. In what can it be so useful, as in prompting and improving the efforts of industry?