Would you help me with Thoreau, please?

Question

I need help interpreting some Thoreau quotes from "Where I Lived and What I Lived For":

-"Pause! Avast! Why so seeming fast, but deadly slow?"

-"And we are enabled to apprehend at all what is sublime and noble only by the perpetual instilling and drenching of the reality that surrounds us."

-"Be it life or death, we crave only reality."

-"Shams and delusions are esteemed for soundless truths, while reality is fabulous."

I have an idea of what Thoreau means, but I am having trouble explaining it coherently. Could you please paraphrase the quotes for me?

Answer 1

Life is fleeting and death permanent, so party every day!