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A Man Who Is Good Enough To Go To Heaven Is Good Enough To Be A Clergyman.
-Samuel Johnson
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A Man Who Is

Samuel Johnson
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A Man Who Is Good Enough To Go To Heaven Is Good Enough To Be A Clergyman.

Understanding the Quote: "a man who is good enough to go to heaven is good..."

This quote by Samuel Johnson reflects deeply on the theme of men. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Men, Not Good Enough, Heaven, the quote offers insight, emotional clarity, and intellectual inspiration to readers worldwide.

Whether you’re a student exploring new ideas, a leader trying to motivate your team, or someone seeking direction in life — this quote provides value. It resonates because it’s more than words — it’s a bridge between experience and wisdom. It shows how Samuel Johnson interprets life's core challenges and triumphs.

Lessons From the Quote

This quote teaches resilience and focus. It reminds readers that no matter where they stand in life, reflection and self-awareness lead to growth. Each word has meaning, and when studied, it becomes clear how impactful thoughtful language can be.

About Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson is celebrated for insightful thoughts on men and not good enough. Their legacy lives on through writings that guide, comfort, and inspire. Discover more on their profile page.

Actionable Takeaways

  • Reflect on how this quote applies to your current life path.
  • Share the message with someone who needs inspiration.
  • Write your thoughts on this quote in a journal or blog post.
  • Use it as a daily affirmation or reminder.

Closing Thoughts

Quotes like this endure because they capture universal truths. They comfort us in solitude and empower us in groups. Carry this quote forward — live by its wisdom, share its message, and keep its essence alive.

Views: 54508
Topic
Men
Not Good Enough
Heaven
More From Samuel Johnson
There Must Always Be A Struggle Between A Father And Son, While One Aims At Power And The Other At Independence.
Fathers Day
Dad
Struggle
You Cannot, By All The Lecturing In The World, Enable A Man To Make A Shoe.
Teaching
Men
Shoes
To Set The Mind Above The Appetites Is The End Of Abstinence, Which One Of The Fathers Observes To Be Not A Virtue, But The Groundwork Of Virtue.
Mind
Virtue
Abstinence
A Man Who Always Talks For Fame Never Can Be Pleasing. The Man Who Talks To Unburthen His Mind Is The Man To Delight You.
Men
Talking
Mind
Do Not Discourage Your Children From Hoarding, If They Have A Taste To It; Whoever Lays Up His Penny Rather Than Part With It For A Cake, At Least Is Not The Slave Of Gross Appetite; And Shows Besides A Preference Always To Be Esteemed, Of The Future To The Present Moment.
Children
Cake
Taste
Everything That Enlarges The Sphere Of Human Powers, That Shows Man He Can Do What He Thought He Could Not Do, Is Valuable.
Life
Men
Spheres
He That Can Swim Needs Not Despair To Fly; To Swim Is To Fly In A Grosser Fluid, And To Fly Is To Swim In A Subtler. We Are Only To Proportion Our Power Of Resistance To The Different Density Of Matter Through Which We Are To Pass. You Will Be Necessarily Upborne By The Air If You Can Renew Any Impulse Upon It Faster Than The Air Can Recede From The Pressure.
Air
Swim
Different
Whatever Enlarges Hope Will Also Exalt Courage.
Hope
Courage
The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions.
Wisdom
Writing
Procrastination
A Successful Author Is Equally In Danger Of The Diminution Of His Fame, Whether He Continues Or Ceases To Write. The Regard Of The Public Is Not To Be Kept But By Tribute, And The Remembrance Of Past Service Will Quickly Languish Unless Successive Performances Frequently Revive It. Yet In Every New Attempt There Is New Hazard, And There Are Few Who Do Not, At Some Unlucky Time, Injure Their Own Characters By Attempting To Enlarge Them.
Writing
Character
Successful
Women Have Two Weapons - Cosmetics And Tears
Two
Tears
Weapons
Come, Let Me Know What It Is That Makes A Scotch Man Happy!
Men
Scotch
Whiskey
Fate Wings, With Every Wish, The Afflictive Dart, Each Gift Of Nature, And Each Grace Of Art.
Art
Fate
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Among The Calamities Of War May Be Justly Numbered The Diminution Of The Love Of Truth By Falsehoods Which Interest Dictates And Credulity Encourages. A Peace Will Equally Leave The Warrior And The Relater Of Wars Destitute Of Employment; And I Know Not Whether More Is To Be Dreaded From Streets Filled With Soldiers Accustomed To Plunder, Or From Garrets Filled With Scribblers Accustomed To Lie.
War
Lying
Soldier
He That Hopes To Look Back Hereafter With Satisfaction Upon Past Years Must Learn To Know The Present Value Of Single Minutes, And Endeavour To Let No Particle Of Time Fall Useless To The Ground.
Fall
Past
Years
The Complaint, Therefore, That All Topicks Are Preoccupied, Is Nothing More Than The Murmur Of Ignorance Or Idleness, By Which Some Discourage Others, And Some Themselves; The Mutability Of Mankind Will Always Furnish Writers With New Images, And The Luxuriance Of Fancy May Always Embellish Them With New Decorations.
Ignorance
Writing
May
I Look Upon This As I Did Upon The Dictionary: It Is All Work, And My Inducement To It Is Not Love Or Desire Of Fame, But The Want Of Money, Which Is The Only Motive To Writing That I Know Of.
Writing
Desire
Want
Differences, We Know, Are Never So Effectually Laid Asleep As By Some Common Calamity; An Enemy Unites All To Whom He Threatens Danger.
Differences
Enemy
Common
What I Gained By Being In France Was Learning To Be Better Satisfied With My Own Country.
Country
France
Satisfied
Men Who Have Flattered Themselves Into This Opinion Of Their Own Abilities, Look Down On All Who Waste Their Lives Over Books, As A Race Of Inferior Beings Condemned By Nature To Perpetual Pupilage, And Fruitlessly Endeavouring To Remedy Their Barrenness By Incessant Cultivation, Or Succour Their Feebleness By Subsidiary Strength. They Presume That None Would Be More Industrious Than They, If They Were Not More Sensible Of Deficiences; And Readily Conclude, That He Who Places No Confidence In His Own Powers Owes His Modesty Only To His Weakness.
Book
Men
Race
It Was Said Of Euripides, That Every Verse Was A Precept; And It May Be Said Of Shakespeare, That From His Works May Be Collected A System Of Civil And Economical Prudence.
May
Said
Prudence
A Man Who Exposes Himself When He Is Intoxicated, Has Not The Art Of Getting Drunk.
Art
Men
Drunk
Patriotism Is The Last Refuge Of The Scoundrel.
Patriotic
Patriotism
Lasts
Life Affords No Higher Pleasure Than That Of Surmounting Difficulties.
Success
Work
Pleasure
Pride Is Seldom Delicate; It Will Please Itself With Very Mean Advantages.
Mean
Pride
Advantage
Treating Your Adversary With Respect Is Striking Soft In Battle.
Battle
Adversaries
Nothing Has So Exposed Men Of Learning To Contempt And Ridicule As Their Ignorance Of Things Which Are Known To All But Themselves. Those Who Have Been Taught To Consider The Institutions Of The Schools As Giving The Last Perfection To Human Abilities Are Surprised To See Men Wrinkled With Study, Yet Wanting To Be Instructed In The Minute Circumstances Of Propriety, Or The Necessary Form Of Daily Transaction; And Quickly Shake Off Their Reverence For Modes Of Education Which They Find To Produce No Ability Above The Rest Of Mankind.
School
Ignorance
Men
Friendship May Well Deserve The Sacrifice Of Pleasure, Though Not Of Conscience.
Sacrifice
May
Pleasure
The Perfect Day For Quitting Is Not Real. It Will Never Come, So Might As Well Start Today
Encouragement
Real
Perfect Days
In My Early Years I Read Very Hard. It Is A Sad Reflection, But A True One, That I Knew Almost As Much At Eighteen As I Do Now.
Book
Reflection
Years
The Reciprocal Civility Of Authors Is One Of The Most Risible Scenes In The Farce Of Life.
Farce
Civility
Scene
Scarce Any Man Becomes Eminently Disagreeable But By A Departure From His Real Character, And An Attempt At Something For Which Nature Or Education Has Left Him Unqualified.
Real
Character
Men
The Great End Of Prudence Is To Give Cheerfulness To Those Hours Which Splendor Cannot Gild, And Acclamation Cannot Exhilarate.
Giving
Splendor
Hours
To Purchase Heaven Has Gold The Power? Can Gold Remove The Mortal Hour? In Life Can Love Be Bought With Gold? Are Friendship's Pleasures To Be Sold? No--all That's Worth A Wish--a Thought, Fair Virtue Gives Unbribed, Unbought. Cease Then On Trash Thy Hopes To Bind, Let Nobler Views Engage Thy Mind.
Love Is
Views
Giving
Prepare For Death, If Here At Night You Roam, And Sign Your Will Before You Sup From Home.
Death
Home
Night
The Care Of The Critic Should Be To Distinguish Error From Inability, Faults Of Inexperience From Defects Of Nature.
Errors
Inexperience
Inability
Men More Frequently Require To Be Reminded Than Informed.
Inspirational
Happiness
Knowledge
Censure Is Willingly Indulged, Because It Always Implies Some Superiority: Men Please Themselves With Imagining That They Have Made A Deeper Search, Or Wider Survey Than Others, And Detected Faults And Follies Which Escape Vulgar Observation.
Men
Advice
Faults
Those That Have Done Nothing In Life, Are Not Qualified To Judge Of Those That Have Done Little
Judging
Done
Littles
The Mental Disease Of The Present Generation Is Impatience Of Study, Contempt Of The Great Masters Of Ancient Wisdom, And A Disposition To Rely Wholly Upon Unassisted Genius And Natural Sagacity.
Patience
Generations
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No Man Was More Foolish When He Had Not A Pen In His Hand, Or More Wise When He Had
Wise
Men
Hands
Levellers Wish To Level Down As Far As Themselves; But They Cannot Bear Levelling Up To Themselves.
Wish
Levels
Bears
The World Is Like A Grand Staircase, Some Are Going Up And Some Are Going Down.
World
Staircases
These Are The Men Who, Without Virtue, Labour, Or Hazard, Are Growing Rich, As Their Country Is Impoverished; They Rejoice, When Obstinacy Or Ambition Adds Another Year To Slaughter And Devastation; And Laugh, From Their Desks, At Bravery And Science, While They Are Adding Figure To Figure, And Cipher To Cipher, Hoping For A New Contract From A New Armament, And Computing The Profits Of A Siege Or Tempest.
Country
Honesty
Integrity
Discord Generally Operates In Little Things; It Is Inflamed ... By Contrariety Of Taste Oftener Than Principles.
Principles
Littles
Taste
It Is Man's Own Fault, It Is From Want Of Use, If His Mind Grows Torpid In Old Age.
Men
Mind
Age
Life Must Be Filled Up, And The Man Who Is Not Capable Of Intellectual Pleasures Must Content Himself With Such As His Senses Can Afford.
Men
Filled Up
Intellectual
It Is Incident To Physicians, I Am Afraid, Beyond All Other Men, To Mistake Subsequence For Consequence.
Mistake
Men
Physicians
The Booksellers Are Generous Liberal-minded Men.
Men
Booksellers
Generous
It Seems To Be Remarkable That Death Increases Our Veneration For The Good, And Extenuates Our Hatred For The Bad.
Death
Hatred
Increase
By Taking A Second Wife He Pays The Highest Compliment To The First, By Showing That She Made Him So Happy As A Married Man, That He Wishes To Be So A Second Time.
Marriage
Men
Wife
If The Man Who Turnips Cries, Cry Not When His Father Dies, 'tis Proof That He Had Rather Have A Turnip Than His Father.
Father
Men
Tears
It Is Commonly Supposed That The Uniformity Of A Studious Life Affords No Matter For Narration: But The Truth Is, That Of The Most Studious Life A Great Part Passes Without Study. An Author Partakes Of The Common Condition Of Humanity; He Is Born And Married Like Another Man; He Has Hopes And Fears, Expectations And Disappointments, Griefs And Joys, And Friends And Enemies, Like A Courtier Or A Statesman; Nor Can I Conceive Why His Affairs Shuld Not Excite Curiosity As Much As The Whisper Of A Drawing-room, Or The Factions Of A Camp.
Disappointment
Grief
Drawing
Slavery Is Now Nowhere More Patiently Endured, Than In Countries Once Inhabited By The Zealots Of Liberty.
Country
Liberty
Slavery
These Papers Of The Day Have Uses More Adequate To The Purposes Of Common Life Than More Pompous And Durable Volumes.
Purpose
Use
Paper
Knowledge Is Praised And Desired By Multitudes Whom Her Charms Could Never Rouse From The Couch Of Sloth; Whom The Faintest Invitation Of Pleasure Draws Away From Their Studies; To Whom Any Other Method Of Wearing The Day Is More Eligible Than The Use Of Books, And Who Are More Easily Engaged By Any Conversation Than Such As May Rectify Their Notions Or Enlarge Their Comprehension.
Book
Knowledge
Sloth
I Would Not Give Half A Guinea To Live Under One Form Of Government Rather Than Another. It Is Of No Moment To The Happiness Of An Individual.
Happiness
Government
Giving
Games Are Good Or Bad As To Their Nature; All May Be Perverted.
Games
May
In Matters Of Business, No Woman Stops At Integrity.
Integrity
Women
Matter
Prejudice Is A Great Time-saver. You Can Form Opinions Without Having To Get The Facts. Prejudice Not Being Founded On Reason Cannot Be Removed By Argument.
Prejudice
Facts
Opinion
In This Work Are Exhibited, In A Very High Degree, The Two Most Engaging Powers Of An Author. New Things Are Made Familiar, And Familiar Things Are Made New.
Writing
Two
Degrees
Every Man Speaks And Writes With Intent To Be Understood; And It Can Seldom Happen But He That Understands Himself Might Convey His Notions To Another, If, Content To Be Understood, He Did Not Seek To Be Admired.
Writing
Men
Might
Consider What Importance To Society The Chastity Of Women Is. Upon That All The Property In The World Depends. We Hang A Thief For Stealing A Sheep; But The Unchastity Of A Woman Transfers Sheep And Farm And All From The Right Owner.
Sheep
Thieves
World
As I Know More Of Mankind I Expect Less Of Them, And Am Ready Now To Call A Man A Good Man Upon Easier Terms Than I Was Formerly.
Happiness
Men
Good Man
When Speculation Has Done Its Worst, Two And Two Still Make Four.
Inspirational
Humility
Two
Men Who Stand In The Highest Ranks Of Society Seldom Hear Of Their Faults; If By Any Accident An Opprobrious Clamour Reaches Their Ears, Flattery Is Always At Hand To Pour In Her Opiates, To Quiet Conviction And Obtund Remorse.
Men
Hands
Opiates
We Have Now Learned That Rashness And Imprudence Will Not Be Deterred From Taking Credit; Let Us Try Whether Fraud And Avarice May Be More Easily Restrained From Giving It.
Giving
Trying
Credit
It Is Not The Desire Of New Acquisitions, But The Glory Of Conquests, That Fires The Soldier's Breast; As Indeed The Town Is Seldom Worth Much, When It Has Suffered The Devastations Of A Siege.
Fire
Soldier
Desire
If The Abuse Be Enormous, Nature Will Rise Up, And Claiming Her Original Rights, Overturn A Corrupt Political System.
Rights
Political
Abuse
Words Are Daughters Of Earth But Ideas Are Sons Of Heaven.
Daughter
Son
Ideas
The Power Of Punishment Is To Silence, Not To Confute.
Punishment
Silence
The Task Of An Author Is, Either To Teach What Is Not Known, Or To Recommend Known Truths By His Manner Of Adorning Them; Either To Let New Light In Upon The Mind, And Open New Scenes To The Prospect, Or To Vary The Dress And Situation Of Common Objects, So As To Give Them Fresh Grace And More Powerful Attractions, To Spread Such Flowers Over The Regions Through Which The Intellect Has Already Made Its Progress, As May Tempt It To Return, And Take A Second View Of Things Hastily Passed Over, Or Negligently Regarded.
Powerful
Flower
Writing
Then With No Throbs Of Fiery Pain, No Cold Gradations Of Decay, Death Broke At Once The Vital Chain, And Freed His Soul The Nearest Way.
Pain
Soul
Decay
But The Distant Hope Of Being One Day Useful Or Eminent Ought Not To Mislead Us Too Far From That Study Which Is Equally Requisite To The Great And Mean, To The Celebrated And Obscure; The Art Of Moderating The Desires, Of Repressing The Appetites; And Of Conciliating Or Retaining The Favour Of Mankind.
Art
Mean
Mislead Us
There May Be Community Of Material Possessions, But There Can Never Be Community Of Love Or Esteem.
Community
May
Communism
It Is Advantageous To An Author That His Book Should Be Attacked As Well As Praised. Fame Is A Shuttlecock. If It Be Struck At One End Of The Room, It Will Soon Fall To The Ground. To Keep It Up, It Must Be Struck At Both Ends.
Book
Fall
Writing
It Is, Indeed, At Home That Every Man Must Be Known By Those Who Would Make A Just Estimate Either Of His Virtue Or Felicity; For Smiles And Embroidery Are Alike Occasional, And The Mind Is Often Dressed For Show In Painted Honor, And Fictitious Benevolence.
Home
Men
Honor
I Have All My Life Long Been Lying In Bed Till Noon; Yet I Tell All Young Men, And Tell Them With Great Sincerity, That Nobody Who Does Not Rise Early Will Ever Do Any Good.
Lying
Men
Long
The Desires Of Man Increase With His Acquisitions.
Men
Desire
Acquisition
Grief Is A Species Of Idleness.
Grief
Sorrow
Species
Of A Thousand Shavers, Two Do Not Shave So Much Alike As Not To Be Distinguished.
Two
Distinguished
Thousand
A Small Country Town Is Not The Place In Which One Would Choose To Quarrel With A Wife; Every Human Being In Such Places Is A Spy.
Country
Wife
Spy
Wasting A Fortune Is Evaporation By A Thousand Imperceptible Means.
Mean
Waste
Evaporation
The Essence Of Poetry Is Invention; Such Invention As, By Producing Something Unexpected, Surprises And Delights.
Essence
Poetry
Delight
I Hope I Shall Never Be Deterred From Detecting What I Think A Cheat, By The Menaces Of A Ruffian.
Hope
Cheating
Thinking
He Is Not Only Dull Himself, But The Cause Of Dulness In Others.
Stupid
People
Intelligence
The Joy Of Life Is Variety; The Tenderest Love Requires To Be Rekindled By Intervals Of Absence.
Diversity
Joy
Life Is
Excellence In Any Department Can Be Attained Only By The Labor Of A Lifetime; It Is Not To Be Purchased At A Lesser Price.
Encouragement
Hard Work
Excellence
Sir, I Have No Objection To A Man's Drinking Wine, If He Can Do It In Moderation. I Found Myself Apt To Go To Excess In It, And Therefore, After Having Been For Some Time Without It, On Account Of Illness, I Thought It Better Not To Return To It. Every Man Is To Judge For Himself, According To The Effects Which He Experiences.
Drinking
Wine
Men
Those Writers Who Lie On The Watch For Novelty Can Have Little Hope Of Greatness; For Great Things Cannot Have Escaped Former Observation.
Lying
Greatness
Watches
Avarice Is Always Poor.
Christian
Poor
Avarice
Of Him That Hopes To Be Forgiven It Is Indispensably Required That He Forgive. It Is, Therefore, Superfluous To Urge Any Other Motive. On This Great Duty Eternity Is Suspended, And To Him That Refuses To Practise It, The Throne Of Mercy Is Inaccessible, And The Saviour Of The World Has Been Born In Vain.
Forgiveness
Forgiving
Thrones
It Is Surely Very Narrow Policy That Supposes Money To Be The Chief Good.
Chiefs
Policy
Avarice
Love Is Only One Of Many Passions.
Passion
Love Is
There Is No Kind Of Idleness By Which We Are So Easily Seduced As That Which Dignifies Itself By The Appearance Of Business.
Business
Sloth
Laziness
The Love Of Retirement Has In All Ages Adhered Closely To Those Minds Which Have Been Most Enlarged By Knowledge, Or Elevated By Genius. Those Who Enjoyed Everything Generally Supposed To Confer Happiness Have Been Forced To Seek It In The Shades Of Privacy.
Retirement
Solitude
Mind
When Desperate Ills Demand A Speedy Cure, Distrust Is Cowardice, And Prudence Folly.
Demand
Desperate
Cowardice
Falsehood Always Endeavors To Copy The Mien And Attitude Of Truth.
Attitude
Endeavor
Copies
Every Man May Be Observed To Have A Certain Strain Of Lamentation, Some Peculiar Theme Of Complaint On Which He Dwells In His Moments Of Dejection.
Men
Peculiar
May
It Is The Condition Of Our Present State To See More Than We Can Attain; The Exactest Vigilance And Caution Can Never Maintain A Single Day Of Unmingled Innocence.
Writing
Ideas
Perfection
That All Who Are Happy Are Equally Happy Is Not True. A Peasant And A Philosopher May Be Equally Satisfied, But Not Equally Happy. A Small Drinking Glass And A Large One May Be Equally Full, But The Large One Holds More Than The Small.
Happiness
Drinking
Insperational
It Is Astonishing That Any Man Can Forbear Enquiring Seriously Whether There Is A God; Whether God Is Just; Whether This Life Is The Only State Of Existence.
Men
Life Is
States
What A Strange Narrowness Of Mind Now Is That, To Think The Things We Have Not Known Are Better Than The Things We Have Known.
Thinking
Mind
Strange
In A Man's Letters You Know, Madam, His Soul Lies Naked, His Letters Are Only The Mirror Of His Breast, Whatever Passes Within Him Is Shown Undisguised In Its Natural Process. Nothing Is Inverted, Nothing Distorted, You See Systems In Their Elements, You Discover Actions In Their Motives.
Lying
Men
Mirrors
Such Are The Vicissitudes Of The World, Through All Its Parts, That Day And Night, Labor And Rest, Hurry And Retirement, Endear Each Other; Such Are The Changes That Keep The Mind In Action: We Desire, We Pursue, We Obtain, We Are Satiated; We Desire Something Else And Begin A New Pursuit.
Change
Retirement
Night
All Discourse Of Which Others Cannot Partake Is Not Only An Irksome Usurpation Of The Time Devoted To Pleasure And Entertainment, But, What Never Fails To Excite Resentment, An Insolent Assertion Of Superiority, And A Triumph Over Less Enlightened Understandings. The Pedant Is, Therefore, Not Only Heard With Weariness But Malignity; And Those Who Conceive Themselves Insulted By His Knowledge Never Fail To Tell With Acrimony How Injudiciously It Was Exerted.
Understanding
Triumph
Acrimony
He That Will Enjoy The Brightness Of Sunshine, Must Quit The Coolness Of The Shade.
Sunshine
Shade
Brightness
There Seems To Be A Strange Affectation In Authors Of Appearing To Have Done Everything By Chance.
Writing
Done
Chance
Fine Clothes Are Good Only As They Supply The Want Of Other Means Of Procuring Respect.
Fashion
Mean
Clothes
It Is Not Easy To Surround Life With Any Circumstances In Which Youth Will Not Be Delightful.
Youth
Easy
Circumstances
Men Are Generally Idle, And Ready To Satisfy Themselves, And Intimidate The Industry Of Others, By Calling That Impossible Which Is Only Difficult.
Men
Sloth
Calling
Those Authors Are To Be Read At Schools That Supply Most Axioms Of Prudence.
School
Prudence
Axioms
A Merchant May, Perhaps, Be A Man Of An Enlarged Mind, But There Is Nothing In Trade Connected With An Enlarged Mind.
Men
Mind
May
The Misery Of Man Proceeds Not From Any Single Crush Of Overwhelming Evil, But From Small Vexations Continually Repeated.
Crush
Men
Evil
For Gold The Hireling Judge Distorts The Laws.
Law
Judging
Gold
Avarice Is A Uniform And Tractable Vice; Other Intellectual Distempers Are Different In Different Constitutions Of Mind. That Which Soothes The Pride Of One Will Offend The Pride Of Another, But To The Favor Of The Covetous Bring Money, And Nothing Is Denied.
Pride
Intellectual
Mind
Without Good Humour, Learning And Bravery Can Only Confer That Superiority Which Swells The Heart Of The Lion In The Desert, Where He Roars Without Reply, And Ravages Without Resistance. Without Good Humour Virtue May Awe By Its Dignity And Amaze By Its Brightness, But Must Always Be Viewed At A Distance, And Will Scarcely Gain A Friend Or Attract An Imitator.
Distance
Heart
Bravery
Sir, They Are A Race Of Convicts, And Ought To Be Thankful For Any Thing We Allow Them Short Of Hanging.
Grateful
Race
Insulting
Your Manuscript Is Both Good And Original; But The Part That Is Good Is Not Original, And The Part That Is Original Is Not Good.
Science
Belief
Favourite
It Is Observed Of Gold, By An Old Epigrammatist, That To Have It Is To Be In Fear, And To Want It Is To Be In Sorrow.
Fear
Sorrow
Gold
Accustom Your Children Constantly To This; If A Thing Happened At One Window And They, When Relating It, Say That It Happened At Another, Do Not Let It Pass, But Instantly Check Them; You Do Not Know Where Deviation From Truth Will End
Children
Window
Ends
One Of The Amusements Of Idleness Is Reading Without Fatigue Of Close Attention; And The World, Therefore, Swarms With Writers Whose Wish Is Not To Be Studied, But To Be Read.
Book
Reading
Wish
Truth Allows No Choice.
Truth
Choices
Consultation And Compliance Can Conduce Little To The Perfection Of Any Literary Performance; For Whoever Is So Doubtful Of His Own Abilities As To Encourage The Remarks Of Others, Will Find Himself Every Day Embarrassed With New Difficulties, And Will Harass His Mind, In Vain, With The Hopeless Labour Of Uniting Heterogeneous Ideas, Digesting Independent Hints, And Collecting Into One Point The Several Rays Of Borrowed Light, Emitted Often With Contrary Directions.
Writing
Independent
Light
Almost All The Moral Good Which Is Left Among Us Is The Apparent Effect Of Physical Evil.
Evil
Wickedness
Moral
Misfortunes Should Always Be Expected.
Should
Expected
Misfortunes
The King Who Makes War On His Enemies Tenderly Distresses His Subjects Most Cruelly.
Kings
War
Enemy
Few Moments Are More Pleasing Than Those In Which The Mind Is Concerting Measures For A New Undertaking.
Mind
Moments
Undertakings
The Man Who Feels Himself Ignorant Should, At Least, Be Modest.
Ignorance
Men
Ignorant
Many Useful And Valuable Books Lie Buried In Shops And Libraries, Unknown And Unexamined, Unless Some Lucky Compiler Opens Them By Chance, And Finds An Easy Spoil Of Wit And Learning.
Lying
Book
Library
The History Of Mankind Is Little Else Than A Narrative Of Designs Which Have Failed And Hopes That Have Been Disappointed.
History
Design
Littles
He That Is Already Corrupt Is Naturally Suspicious, And He That Becomes Suspicious Will Quickly Become Corrupt.
Suspicion
Suspicious
He Who Waits To Do A Great Deal Of Good At Once Will Never Do Anything.
Kindness
Waiting
Charity
He That Teaches Us Anything Which We Knew Not Before Is Undoubtedly To Be Reverenced As A Master.
Inspirational
Education
Teacher
For Who Is Pleased With Himself.
Happiness
Words Too Familiar, Or Too Remote, Defeat The Purpose Of A Poet.
Purpose
Defeat
Poet
Nobody Has The Right To Put Another Under Such A Difficulty That He Must Either Hurt The Person By Telling The Truth Or Hurt Himself By Telling What Is Not True.
Hurt
Behaviour
Telling The Truth
When I First Collected These Authorities, I Was Desirous That Every Quotation Should Be Useful To Some Other End Than The Illustration Of A Word; I Therefore Extracted From Philosophers Principles Of Science; From Historians Remarkable Facts; From Chymists Complete Processes; From Divines Striking Exhortations; And From Poets Beautiful Descriptions.
Beautiful
Illustration
Firsts
I Had Done All That I Could, And No Man Is Well Pleased To Have His All Neglected, Be It Ever So Little.
Men
Done
Littles
Who Drives Fat Oxen Should Himself Be Fat.
Oxen
Should
Fats
He Who Is Extravagant Will Quickly Become Poor; And Poverty Will Enforce Dependence, And Invite Corruption.
Extravagance
Poverty
Corruption
The Most Heterogeneous Ideas Are Yoked By Violence Together.
Ideas
Together
Violence
Applause Abates Diligence.
Praise
Diligence
Applause
No Man Reads A Book Of Science From Pure Inclination. The Books That We Do Read With Pleasure Are Light Compositions, Which Contain A Quick Succession Of Events.
Book
Reading
Men
Prudence Is An Attitude That Keeps Life Safe, But Does Not Often Make It Happy.
Attitude
Doe
Safe
Wine Gives Great Pleasure; And Every Pleasure Is Of Itself A Good. It Is A Good, Unless Counterbalanced By Evil.
Wine
Evil
Giving
He That Has Too Much To Do Will Do Something Wrong.
Too Much
Busy
Who Left Nothing Of Authorship Untouched, And Touched Nothing Which He Did Not Adorn. [lat., Qui Nullum Fere Scribendi Genus Non Tetigit; Nullum Quod Tetigit Non Ornavit.]
Authorship
Touched
Left
The Heroes Of Literary History Have Been No Less Remarkable For What They Have Suffered Than For What They Have Achieved.
Hero
Remarkable
Has Beens
At Length Weariness Succeeds To Labor, And The Mind Lies At Ease In The Contemplation Of Her Own Attainments Without Any Desire Of New Conquests Or Excursions. This Is The Age Of Recollection And Narrative; The Opinions Are Settled, And The Avenues Of Apprehension Shut Against Any New Intelligence; The Days That Are To Follow Must Pass In The Inculcation Of Precepts Already Collected, And Assertion Of Tenets Already Received; Nothing Is Henceforward So Odious As Opposition, So Insolent As Doubt, Or So Dangerous As Novelty.
Lying
Doubt
Mind
As He That Lives Longest Lives But A Little While, Every Man May Be Certain That He Has No Time To Waste. The Duties Of Life Are Commensurate To Its Duration; And Every Day Brings Its Task, Which, If Neglected, Is Doubled On The Morrow.
Men
Tasks
May
Life, To Be Worthy Of A Rational Being, Must Be Always In Progression; We Must Always Purpose To Do More Or Better Than In Time Past.
Past
Purpose
Progression
Labor, If It Were Not Necessary For Existence, Would Be Indispensable For The Happiness Of Man.
Happiness
Men
Would Be
Those Who Attain Any Excellence, Commonly Spend Life In One Pursuit; For Excellence Is Not Often Gained Upon Easier Terms.
Humor
Focus
Excellence
Disease Generally Begins That Equality Which Death Completes; The Distinctions Which Set One Man So Much Above Another Are Very Little Perceived In The Gloom Of A Sick Chamber, Where It Will Be Vain To Expect Entertainment From The Gay, Or Instruction From The Wise; Where All Human Glory Is Obliterated, The Wit Is Clouded, The Reasoner Perplexed, And The Hero Subdued; Where The Highest And Brightest Of Mortal Beings Finds Nothing Left Him But The Consciousness Of Innocence.
Wise
Hero
Gay
To Live Without Feeling Or Exciting Sympathy, To Be Fortunate Without Adding To The Felicity Of Others, Or Afflicted Without Tasting The Balm Of Pity, Is A State More Gloomy Than Solitude; It Is Not Retreat, But Exclusion From Mankind. Marriage Has Many Pains, But Celibacy Has No Pleasures.
Pain
Solitude
Feelings
We All Live Upon The Hope Of Pleasing Somebody, And The Pleasure Of Pleasing Ought To Be Greatest, And At Last Always Will Be Greatest, When Our Endeavours Are Exerted In Consequence Of Our Duty.
Pleasure
Endeavor
Duty
Those Who Are In The Power Of Evil Habits Must Conquer Them As They Can; And Conquered They Must Be, Or Neither Wisdom Nor Happiness Can Be Attained: But Those Who Are Not Yet Subject To Their Influence May, By Timely Caution, Preserve Their Freedom.
Evil
May
Influence
I Soon Found That Wit, Like Every Other Power, Has Its Boundaries; That Its Success Depends Upon The Aptitude Of Others To Receive Impressions; And That As Some Bodies, Indissoluble By Heat, Can Set The Furnace And Crucible At Defiance, There Are Min
Crucible
Body
Limits
You Cannot Give Me An Instance Of Any Man Who Is Permitted To Lay Out His Own Time Contriving Not To Have Tedious Hours.
Men
Giving
Hours
People Need To Be Reminded More Often Than They Need To Be Instructed.
Business
People
Needs
The Most Heterogeneous Ideas Are Yoked By Violence Together; Nature And Art Are Ransacked For Illustrations, Comparisons, And Allusions; Their Learning Instructs, And Their Subtlety Surprises; But The Reader Commonly Thinks His Improvement Dearly Bought And, Though He Sometimes Admires, Is Seldom Pleased.
Art
Reading
Thinking
Disease Generally Begins That Equality Which Death Completes.
Death
Equality
Disease
My Dear Friend, Clear Your Mind Of Can't.
Mind
Complacency
Dear Friend
Promise, Large Promise, Is The Soul Of An Advertisement.
Wise
Witty
Business
Always, Sir, Set A High Value On Spontaneous Kindness. He Whose Inclination Prompts Him To Cultivate Your Friendship Of His Own Accord, Will Love You More Than One Whom You Have Been At Pains To Attach To You.
Friendship
Pain
Kindness
The Time Will Come To Every Human Being When It Must Be Known How Well He Can Bear To Die.
Death
Bears
Wells
It Is Dangerous For Mortal Beauty, Or Terrestrial Virtue, To Be Examined By Too Strong A Light. The Torch Of Truth Shows Much That We Cannot, And All That We Would Not, See.
Strong
Light
Torches
A Coxcomb Is Ugly All Over With The Effectation Of A Fine Gentleman.
Ignorance
Gentleman
Ugly
The Mischief Of Flattery Is, Not That It Persuades Any Man That He Is What He Is Not, But That It Suppresses The Influence Of Honest Ambition, By Raising An Opinion That Honour May Be Gained Without The Toil Of Merit.
Ambition
Men
Toil
Timidity Is A Disease Of The Mind, Obstinate And Fatal; For A Man Once Persuaded That Any Impediment Is Insuperable Has Given It, With Respect To Himself, That Strength And Weight Which It Had Not Before.
Fear
Men
Mind
Surely Nothing Is More Reproachful To A Being Endowed With Reason, Than To Resign Its Powers To The Influence Of The Air, And Live In Dependence On The Weather And The Wind, For The Only Blessings Which Nature Has Put Into Our Power, Tranquillity And Benevolence. To Look Up To The Sky For The Nutriment Of Our Bodies, Is The Condition Of Nature; To Call Upon The Sun For Peace And Gaiety, Or Deprecate The Clouds Lest Sorrow Should Overwhelm Us, Is The Cowardice Of Idleness, And The Idolatry Of Folly.
Blessing
Clouds
Air
Just Praise Is Only A Debt, But Flattery Is A Present. The Acknowledgment Of Those Virtues On Which Conscience Congratulates Us Is A Tribute That We Can At Any Tine Exact With Confidence; But The Celebration Of Those Which We Only Feign, Or Desire Without Any Vigorous Endeavours To Attain Them, Is Received As A Confession Of Sovereignty Over Regions Never Conquered, As A Favourable Decision Of Disputable Claims, And Is More Welcome As More Gratuitous.
Decision
Desire
Debt
Never Trust Your Tongue When Your Heart Is Bitter.
Trust
Heart
Tongue
An Infallible Characteristic Of Meanness Is Cruelty.
Characteristics
Cruelty
Meanness
Wickedness Is Always Easier Than Virtue; For It Takes The Short Cut To Everything.
Cutting
Evil
Wickedness
Yet Reason Frowns In War's Unequal Game, Where Wasted Nations Raise A Single Name; And Mortgag'd States Their Grandsire's Wreaths Regret, From Age To Age In Everlasting Debt; Wreaths Which At Last The Dear-bought Right Convey To Rust On Medals, Or On Stones Decay.
Regret
War
Hero
A Country Governed By A Despot Is An Inverted Cone.
Country
Cones
Inverted
An Age That Melts In Unperceiv'd Decay, And Glides In Modest Innocence Away.
Age
Decay
Innocence
The Fountain Of Contentment Must Spring Up In The Mind.
Happiness
Spring
Mind
For Patience, Sov'reign O'er Transmuted Ill.
Patience
Reign
Ill
Cruel With Guilt, And Daring With Despair, The Midnight Murderer Bursts The Faithless Bar; Invades The Sacred Hour Of Silent Rest And Leaves, Unseen, A Dagger In Your Breast.
Guilt
Despair
Unseen
The Insolence Of Wealth Will Creep Out.
Disrespect
Wealth
Creeps
A Successful Author Is Equally In Danger Of The Diminution Of His Fame, Whether He Continues Or Ceases To Write.
Writing
Successful
Fame
Among The Numerous Requisites That Must Concur To Complete An Author, Few Are Of More Importance Than An Early Entrance Into The Living World. The Seed Of Knowledge May Be Planted In Solitude, But Must Be Cultivated In Public. Argumentation May Be Taught In Colleges, And Theories Formed In Retirement; But The Artifice Of Embellishment And The Powers Of Attraction Can Be Gained Only By A General Converse.
Retirement
Writing
College
There Is, Indeed, Nothing That So Much Seduces Reason From Vigilance, As The Thought Of Passing Life With An Amiable Woman.
Marriage
Reason
Passing
It Is A Hopeless Endeavour To Unite The Contrarieties Of Spring And Winter; It Is Unjust To Claim The Privileges Of Age, And Retain The Play-things Of Childhood.
Spring
Winter
Play
Babies Do Not Want To Hear About Babies; They Like To Be Told Of Giants And Castles.
Baby
Castles
Giants
He That Is Warm For Truth, And Fearless In Its Defense, Performs One Of The Duties Of A Good Man; He Strenghtens His Own Conviction, And Guards Others From Delusion; But Steadiness Of Belief, And Boldness Of Profession, Are Yet Only Part Of The Form Of Godliness.
Men
Fearless
Good Man
It Is A Most Mortifying Reflection For A Man To Consider What He Has Done, Compared To What He Might Have Done.
Wisdom
Reflection
Men
Such Is The Emptiness Of Human Enjoyment That We Are Always Impatient Of The Present. Attainment Is Followed By Neglect, And Possession By Disgust.
Emptiness
Impatient
Neglect
The Truly Strong And Sound Mind Is The Mind That Can Embrace Equally Great Things And Small.
Life
Strong
History
Silence Propagates Itself, And The Longer Talk Has Been Suspended, The More Difficult It Is To Find Anything To Say.
Silence
Difficult
Has Beens
Solitude Is Dangerous To Reason, Without Being Favourable To Virtue. Remember That The Solitary Mortal Is Certainly Luxurious, Probably Superstitious, And Possibly Mad.
Mad
Solitude
Remember
There Are Occasions On Which All Apology Is Rudeness.
Apology
Rudeness
Occasions
All Intellectual Improvement Arises From Leisure.
Work
Intellectual
Statistics
Man Alone Is Born Crying, Lives Complaining, And Dies Disappointed.
Life
Men
Complaining
The Feeling Of Friendship Is Like That Of Being Comfortably Filled With Roast Beef; Love, Like Being Enlivened With Champagne.
Love
Friendship
Food
Friendship, Like Love, Is Destroyed By Long Absence, Though It May Be Increased By Short Intermissions.
Friendship
Life And Love
Love Is
Present Opportunities Are Neglected, And Attainable Good Is Slighted, By Minds Busied In Extensive Ranges And Intent Upon Future Advantages.
Opportunity
Mind
Advantage
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