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Some Read For Style, And Some For Argument: One Has Little Care About The Sentiment, He Observes Only How It Is Expressed; Another Regards Not The Conclusion, But Is Diligent To Mark How It Is Inferred; They Read For Other Purposes Than The Attainment Of Practical Knowledge; And Are No More Likely To Grow Wise By An Examination Of A Treatise Of Moral Prudence, Than An Architect To Inflame His Devotion By Considering Attentively The Proportions Of A Temple.

-Samuel Johnson

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Some Read For Style,

Samuel Johnson

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Some Read For Style, And Some For Argument: One Has Little Care About The Sentiment, He Observes Only How It Is Expressed; Another Regards Not The Conclusion, But Is Diligent To Mark How It Is Inferred; They Read For Other Purposes Than The Attainment Of Practical Knowledge; And Are No More Likely To Grow Wise By An Examination Of A Treatise Of Moral Prudence, Than An Architect To Inflame His Devotion By Considering Attentively The Proportions Of A Temple.

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Language Is The Dress Of Thought; And As The Noblest Mien Or Most Graceful Action Would Be Degraded And Obscured By A Garb Appropriated To The Gross Employments Of Rusticks Or Mechanics, So The Most Heroick Sentiments Will Lose Their Efficacy

Subordination Tends Greatly To Human Happiness. Were We All Upon An Equality, We Should Have No Other Enjoyment Than Mere Animal Pleasure.

There Is Scarcely Any Writer Who Has Not Celebrated The Happiness Of Rural Privacy, And Delighted Himself And His Reader With The Melody Of Birds, The Whisper Of Groves, And The Murmur Of Rivulets.

There Is Something In Obstinacy Which Differs From Every Other Passion. Whenever It Fails, It Never Recovers, But Either Breaks Like Iron, Or Crumbles Sulkily Away, Like A Fractured Arch. Most Other Passions Have Their Periods Of Fatigue And Rest, Their Sufferings And Their Cure; But Obstinacy Has No Resource, And The First Wound Is Mortal.

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.

The Worst Evils Are Those That Never Arrive.

Nature Has Given Women So Much Power That The Law Has Very Wisely Given Them Little.

Whoever Desires, For His Writings Or Himself, What None Can Reasonably Contemn, The Favour Of Mankind, Must Add Grace To Strength, And Make His Thoughts Agreeable As Well As Useful. Many Complain Of Neglect Who Never Tried To Attract Regard.

No Man But A Blockhead Ever Wrote Except For Money.

To Buried Merit Rise The Tardy Bust.

That Man Is Never Happy For The Present Is So True, That All His Relief From Unhappiness Is Only Forgetting Himself For A Little While. Life Is A Progress From Want To Want, Not From Enjoyment To Enjoyment.

Power Is Gradually Stealing Away From The Many To The Few, Because The Few Are More Vigilant And Consistent.

All Travel Has Its Advantages. If The Passenger Visits Better Countries, He May Learn To Improve His Own. And If Fortune Carries Him To Worse, He May Learn To Enjoy It.

It Is More From Carelessness About Truth Than From Intentionally Lying That There Is So Much Falsehood In The World.

Most Men Are Unwilling To Be Taught.

Among Many Parallels Which Men Of Imagination Have Drawn Between The Natural And Moral State Of The World, It Has Been Observed That Happiness As Well As Virtue Consists In Mediocrity.

He That Would Be Superior To External Influences Must First Become Superior To His Own Passions.

If You Want To Be A Writer, Then Write. Write Every Day!

Idleness Is Often Covered By Turbulence And Hurry. He That Neglects His Known Duty And Real Employment Naturally Endeavours To Crowd His Mind With Something That May Bar Out The Remembrance Of His Own Folly, And Does Any Thing But What He Ought To Do With Eager Diligence, That He May Keep Himself In His Own Favour.

Every Class Of Society Has Its Cant Of Lamentation, Which Is Understood Or Regarded By None But Themselves; And Every Part Of Life Has Its Uneasiness, Which Those Who Do Not Feel Them Will Not Commiserate. An Event Which Spreads Distraction Over Half The Commercial World, Assembles The Trading Companies In Councils And Committees, And Shakes The Nerves Of A Thousand Stockjobbers, Is Read By The Landlord And The Farmer With Frigid Indifference.

The Truly Strong And Sound Mind Is The Mind That Can Embrace Equally Great Things And Small.

Every Period Of Life Is Obliged To Borrow Its Happiness From Time To Come.

Pleasure Is Very Seldom Found Where It Is Sought. Our Brightest Blazes Of Gladness Are Commonly Kindled By Unexpected Sparks. The Flowers Which Scatter Their Odours From Time To Time In The Paths Of Life, Grow Up Without Culture From Seeds Scattered By Chance.

Depend Upon It, Sir, It Is When You Come Close To A Man In Conservation That You Discover What His Real Abilities Are; To Make A Speech In A Public Assembly Is A Knack.

Truth Allows No Choice.

A Man, Sir, Should Keep His Friendship In A Constant Repair.

There Can Be No Friendship Without Confidence, And No Confidence Without Integrity.

Tomorrow Is An Old Deceiver, And His Cheat Never Grows Stale.

The Wise Man Applauds He Who He Thinks Most Virtuous; The Rest Of The World Applauds The Wealthy.

Integrity Without Knowledge Is Weak And Useless, And Knowledge Without Integrity Is Dangerous And Dreadful.

A Translator Is To Be Like His Author; It Is Not His Business To Excel Him.

There Are Indeed, In The Present Corruption Of Mankind, Many Incitements To Forsake Truth: The Need Of Palliating Our Own Faults And The Convenience Of Imposing On The Ignorance Or Credulity Of Others So Frequently Occur; So Many Immediate Evils Are

Deceit And Falsehood, Whatever Conveniences They May For A Time Promise Or Produce, Are, In The Sum Of Life, Obstacles To Happiness. Those Who Profit By The Cheat Distrust The Deceiver; And The Act By Which Kindness Was Sought Puts An End To Confidence.

The Use Of Traveling Is To Regulate Imagination By Reality.

Abstinence Is As Easy To Me As Temperance Would Be Difficult.

All Intellectual Improvement Arises From Leisure.

He That Fails In His Endeavors After Wealth Or Power Will Not Long Retain Either Honesty Or Courage.

To See Helpless Infancy Stretching Out Her Hands, And Pouring Out Her Cries In Testimony Of Dependence, Without Any Powers To Alarm Jealousy, Or Any Guilt To Alienate Affection, Must Surely Awaken Tenderness In Every Human Mind; And Tenderness Once Excited Will Be Hourly Increased By The Natural Contagion Of Felicity, By The Repercussion Of Communicated Pleasure, By The Consciousness Of Dignity Of Benefaction.

I Never Have Sought The World; The World Was Not To Seek Me.

The Reciprocal Civility Of Authors Is One Of The Most Risible Scenes In The Farce Of Life.

The Animadversions Of Critics Are Commonly Such As May Easily Provoke The Sedatest Writer To Some Quickness Of Resentment And Asperity Of Reply.

To Forget, Or Pretend To Do So, To Return A Borrowed Article, Is The Meanest Sort Of Petty Theft.

A Successful Author Is Equally In Danger Of The Diminution Of His Fame, Whether He Continues Or Ceases To Write.

Truth Has No Gradations; Nothing Which Admits Of Increase Can Be So Much What It Is, As Truth Is Truth. There May Be A Strange Thing, And A Thing More Strange. But If A Proposition Be True, There Can Be None More True.

What Is Twice Read Is Commonly Better Remembered That What Is Transcribed.

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.

The Balls Of Sight Are So Formed, That One Man's Eyes Are Spectacles To Another, To Read His Heart With.

We Are All Prompted By The Same Motives, All Deceived By The Same Fallacies, All Animated By Hope, Obstructed By Danger, Entangled By Desire, And Seduced By Pleasure.

No Man Will Be A Sailor Who Has Contrivance Enough To Get Himself Into A Jail; For Being In A Ship Is Being In A Jail, With The Chance Of Being Drowned... A Man In A Jail Has More Room, Better Food, And Commonly Better Company.

There Is No Crime More Infamous Than The Violation Of Truth. It Is Apparent That Men Can Be Social Beings No Longer Than They Believe Each Other. When Speech Is Employed Only As The Vehicle Of Falsehood, Every Man Must Disunite Himself From Others, Inhabit His Own Cave And Seek Prey Only For Himself.

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.

He Who Attempts To Do All Will Waste His Life In Doing Little.

I Should As Soon Think Of Contradicting A Bishop

In Proportion As Our Cares Are Employed Upon The Future, They Are Abstracted From The Present, From The Only Time Which We Can Call Our Own, And Of Which, If We Neglect The Apparent Duties To Make Provision Against Visionary Attacks, We Shall Certainly Counteract Our Own Purpose.

I Have Always Considered A Clergyman As The Father Of A Larger Family Than He Is Able To Maintain.

When Men Come To Like A Sea-life, They Are Not Fit To Live On Land.

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.

It Is As Foolish To Make Experiments Upon The Constancy Of A Friend, As Upon The Chastity Of A Wife.

The King Who Makes War On His Enemies Tenderly Distresses His Subjects Most Cruelly.

Books To Judicious Compilers, Are Useful; To Particular Arts And Professions, They Are Absolutely Necessary; To Men Of Real Science, They Are Tools: But More Are Tools To Them.

We Love To Expect, And When Expectation Is Either Disappointed Or Gratified, We Want To Be Again Expecting.

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.

To Strive With Difficulties, And To Conquer Them, Is The Highest Human Felicity.

Every Other Enjoyment Malice May Destroy; Every Other Panegyric Envy May Withhold; But No Human Power Can Deprive The Boaster Of His Own Encomiums.

The Imitator Treads A Beaten Walk, And With All His Diligence Can Only Find A Few Flowers Or Branches Untouched By His Predecessor, The Refuse Of Contempt, Or The Omissions Of Negligence.

No Writer Can Be Fully Convicted Of Imitation Except There Is A Concurrence Of More Resemblance Than Can Be Imagined To Have Happened By Chance; As Where The Same Ideas Are Conjoined Without Any Natural Series Or Necessary Coherence, Or Where Not Only The Thought But The Words Are Copied.

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; But When Once He Begins To Contrive How His Sentiments May Be Received, Not With Most Ease To His Reader, But With Most Advantage To Himself, He Then Transfers His Consideration From Words To Sounds, From Sentences To Periods, And, As He Grows More Elegant, Becomes Less Intelligible.

Credulity Is The Common Failing Of Inexperienced Virtue; And He Who Is Spontaneously Suspicious May Justly Be Charged With Radical Corruption.

I Know Not Any Crime So Great That A Man Could Contrive To Commit As Poisoning The Sources Of Eternal Truth.

It May Be Observed In General That The Future Is Purchased By The Present. It Is Not Possible To Secure Distant Or Permanent Happiness But By The Forbearance Of Some Immediate Gratification. This Is So Evidently True With Regard To The Whole Of Our Existence That All Precepts Of Theology Have No Other Tendency Than To Enforce A Life Of Faith; A Life Regulated Not By Our Senses But By Our Belief; A Life In Which Pleasures Are To Be Refused For Fear Of Invisible Punishments, And Calamities Sometimes To Be Sought, And Always Endured, In Hope Of Rewards That Shall Be Obtained In Another State.

A Man Who Uses A Great Many Words To Express His Meaning Is Like A Bad Marksman Who, Instead Of Aiming A Single Stone At An Object, Takes Up A Handful And Throws At It In Hopes He May Hit.

What We Read With Inclination Makes A Much Stronger Impression. If We Read Without Inclination, Half The Mind Is Employed In Fixing The Attention; So There Is But One Half To Be Employed On What We Read.

I Deny The Lawfulness Of Telling A Lie To A Sick Man For Fear Of Alarming Him; You Have No Business With Consequences, You Are To Tell The Truth.

The Lust Of Gold Succeeds The Rage Of Conquest; The Lust Of Gold, Unfeeling And Remorseless! The Last Corruption Of Degenerate Man.

Sir, There Is No Settling The Point Of Precedency Between A Louse And A Flea.

There Should Be A Stated Day For Commemorating The Birthday Of Our Savior, Because There Is Danger That What May Be Done On Any Day, Will Be Neglected.

Small Debts Are Like Small Shot; They Are Rattling On Every Side, And Can Scarcely Be Escaped Without A Wound: Great Debts Are Like Cannon; Of Loud Noise, But Little Danger.

An Exotic And Irrational Entertainment, Which Has Been Always Combated, And Always Has Prevailed.

Avarice Is Generally The Last Passion Of Those Lives Of Which The First Part Has Been Squandered In Pleasure, And The Second Devoted To Ambition. He That Sinks Under The Fatigue Of Getting Wealth, Lulls His Age With The Milder Business Of Saving It

Fraud And Falsehood Only Dread Examination. Truth Invites It.

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.

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.

Those Who Do Not Feel Pain Seldom Think That It Is Felt.

No Man Is Obliged To Do As Much As He Can Do. A Man Is To Have Part Of His Life To Himself.

[the Poet] Must Write As The Interpreter Of Nature And The Legislator Of Mankind, And Consider Himself As Presiding Over The Thoughts And Manners Of Future Generations, As A Being Superior To Time And Place.

Philosophy Has Often Attempted To Repress Insolence By Asserting That All Conditions Are Leveled By Death; A Position Which, However It May Defect The Happy, Will Seldom Afford Much Comfort To The Wretched.

No Man Is Much Regarded By The Rest Of The World. He That Considers How Little He Dwells Upon The Condition Of Others, Will Learn How Little The Attention Of Others Is Attracted By Himself. While We See Multitudes Passing Before Us, Of Whom Perhaps Not One Appears To Deserve Our Notice Or Excites Our Sympathy, We Should Remember, That We Likewise Are Lost In The Same Throng, That The Eye Which Happens To Glance Upon Us Is Turned In A Moment On Him That Follows Us, And That The Utmost Which We Can Reasonably Hope Or Fear Is To Fill A Vacant Hour With Prattle, And Be Forgotten.

Happiness Is Enjoyed Only In Proportion As It Is Known; And Such Is The State Or Folly Of Man, That It Is Known Only By Experience Of Its Contrary.

Sir, I Have Found You An Argument; But I Am Not Obliged To Find You An Understanding.

New Things Are Made Familiar, And Familiar Things Are Made New.

Familiar Things

Conjecture As To Things Useful, Is Good; But Conjecture As To What It Would Be Useless To Know, Is Very Idle.

The Gloomy And The Resentful Are Always Found Among Those Who Have Nothing To Do Or Who Do Nothing.

As Any Action Or Posture, Long Continued, Will Distort And Disfigure The Limbs, So The Mind Likewise Is Crippled And Contracted By Perpetual Application To The Same Set Of Ideas.

Whatever Enlarges Hope Will Also Exalt Courage.

No Place Affords A More Striking Conviction Of The Vanity Of Human Hopes Than A Public Library.

Prudence Is An Attitude That Keeps Life Safe, But Does Not Often Make It Happy.

To Build Is To Be Robbed.

What Provokes Your Risibility, Sir? Have I Said Anything That You Understand? Then I Ask Pardon Of The Rest Of The Company.

Pleasure Is Very Seldom Found Where It Is Sought; Our Brightest Blazes Of Gladness Are Commonly Kindled By Unexpected Sparks.

I Am Not Yet So Lost In Lexicography, As To Forget That Words Are The Daughters Of The Earth, And That Things Are The Sons Of Heaven. Language Is Only The Instrument Of Science, And Words Are But The Signs Of Ideas: I Wish, However, That The Instrument Might Be Less Apt To Decay, And That Signs Might Be Permanent, Like The Things Which They Denote.

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.

So Many Objections May Be Made To Everything, That Nothing Can Overcome Them But The Necessity Of Doing Something.

The Business Of Life Is To Go Forward; He Who Sees Evil In Prospect Meets It In His Way, And He Who Catches It By Retrospection Turns Back To Find It. That Which Is Feared May Sometimes Be Avoided, But That Which Is Regretted To-day May Be Regretted Again To-morrow.

Admiration Must Be Continued By That Novelty Which First Produces It; And How Much Soever Is Given, There Must Always Be Reason To Imagine That More Remains.

The Chief Glory Of Every People Arises From Its Authors.

I Am A Friend To Subordination, As Most Conducive To The Happiness Of Society. There Is A Reciprocal Pleasure In Governing And Being Governed.

Very Few Live By Choice. Every Man Is Placed In His Present Condition By Causes Which Acted Without His Foresight, And With Which He Did Not Always Willingly Cooperate; And Therefore You Will Rarely Meet One Who Does Not Think The Lot Of His Neighbor Better Than His Own.

I Never Take A Nap After Dinner But When I Have Had A Bad Night, And Then The Nap Takes Me.

A Coxcomb Is Ugly All Over With The Effectation Of A Fine Gentleman.

Every Man That Has Felt Pain Knows How Little All Other Comforts Can Gladden Him To Whom Health Is Denied. Yet Who Is There Does Not Sometimes Hazard It For The Enjoyment Of An Hour?

If I Had No Duties, And No Reference To Futurity, I Would Spend My Life In Driving Briskly In A Post-chaise With A Pretty Woman.

Every Man Has A Right To Utter What He Thinks Truth, And Every Other Man Has A Right To Knock Him Down For It. Martyrdom Is The Test.

Freedom Of Speech

The Most Useful Truths Are Always Universal, And Unconnected With Accidents And Customs.

At Seventy-seven It Is Time To Be In Earnest.

Allegories Drawn To Great Length Will Always Break.

The Fortitude Which Has Encountered No Dangers, That Prudence Which Has Surmounted No Difficulties, That Integrity Which Has Been Attacked By No Temptation, Can At Best Be Considered But As Gold Not Yet Brought To The Test, Of Which Therefore The True Value Cannot Be Assigned.

Criticism, As It Was First Instituted By Aristotle, Was Meant As A Standard Of Judging Well.

Riches Seldom Make Their Owners Rich.

Levellers Wish To Level Down As Far As Themselves; But They Cannot Bear Levelling Up To Themselves.

What Is The Reason That Women Servants ... Have Much Lower Wages Than Men Servants ... When In Fact Our Female House Servants Work Much Harder Than The Male?

Is Not A Patron, My Lord, One Who Looks With Unconcern On A Man Struggling For Life In The Water, And When He Has Reached Ground Encumbers Him With Help? The Notice Which You Have Been Pleased To Take Care Of My Labors, Had It Been Early, Had Been Kind; But It Has Been Delayed Till I Am Indifferent, And Cannot Enjoy It; Till I Am Solitary, And Cannot Impart It; Till I Am Known, And Do Not Want It.

Such Is The State Of Every Age, Every Sex, And Every Condition: All Have Their Cares, Either From Nature Or From Folly; And Whoever, Therefore, Finds Himself Inclined To Envy Another, Should Remember That He Knows Not The Real Condition Which He Desires To Obtain, But Is Certain That By Indulging A Vicious Passion, He Must Lessen That Happiness Which He Thinks Already Too Sparingly Bestowed.

In All Political Regulations, Good Cannot Be Complete, It Can Only Be Predominant.

Cunning Differs From Wisdom As Twilight From Open Day.

Knowledge Always Desires Increase, It Is Like Fire, Which Must First Be Kindled By Some External Agent, But Which Will Afterwards Propagate Itself.

There Is, Indeed, Nothing That So Much Seduces Reason From Vigilance, As The Thought Of Passing Life With An Amiable Woman.

There Is Always Something A Woman Will Prefer To The Truth.

It Is Not From Reason And Prudence That People Marry, But From Inclination.

A Minute Analysis Of Life At Once Destroys That Splendor Which Dazzles The Imagination. Whatsoever Grandeur Can Display, Or Luxury Enjoy, Is Procured By Offices Of Which The Mind Shrinks From The Contemplation. All The Delicacies Of The Table May Be Traced Back To The Shambles And The Dunghill; All Magnificence Of Building Was Hewn From The Quarry, And All The Pomp Of Ornament Dug From Among The Damps And Darkness Of The Mine.

Corneille Is To Shakespeare As A Clipped Hedge Is To A Forest.

To Write Is, Indeed, No Unpleasing Employment, When One Sentiment Readily Produces Another, And Both Ideas And Expressions Present Themselves At The First Summons; But Such Happiness, The Greatest Genius Does Not Always Obtain; And Common Writers Know It Only To Such A Degree, As To Credit Its Possibility. Composition Is, For The Most Part, An Effort Of Slow Diligence And Steady Perseverance, To Which The Mind Is Dragged By Necessity Or Resolution, And From Which The Attention Is Every Moment Starting To More Delightful Amusements.

There Is No Being So Poor And So Contemptible, Who Does Not Think There Is Somebody Still Poorer, And Still More Contemptible.

Evil Is Uncertain In The Same Degree As Good, And For The Reason That We Ought Not To Hope Too Securely, We Ought Not To Fear With To Much Dejection.

While An Author Is Yet Living, We Estimate His Powers By His Worst Performance; And When He Is Dead, We Rate Him By His Best.

Genius, That Power Which Constitutes A Poet; That Quality Without Which Judgment Is Cold, And Knowledge Is Inert; That Energy Which Collects, Combines, Amplifies And Animates.

Almost All Absurdity Of Conduct Arises From The Imitation Of Those Who We Cannot Resemble.

The Size Of A Man's Understanding Might Always Be Justly Measured By His Mirth.

It Is The Great Privilege Of Poverty To Be Happy Unenvied, To Be Healthful Without Physic, And Secure Without A Guard; To Obtain From The Bounty Of Nature, What The Great And Wealthy Are Compelled To Procure By The Help Of Artists And Attendants, Of Flatterers And Spies.

Ancient Travelers Guessed; Modern Travelers Measure.

Don't, Sir, Accustom Yourself To Use Big Words For Little Matters.

I Am Far From Any Intention To Limit Curiosity, Or Confine The Labours Of Learning To Arts Of Immediate And Necessary Use. It Is Only From The Various Essays Of Experimental Industry, And The Vague Excursions Of Mind Set Upon Discovery, That Any Advancement Of Knowledge Can Be Expected; And Though Many Must Be Disappointed In Their Labours, Yet They Are Not To Be Charged With Having Spent Their Time In Vain; Their Example Contributed To Inspire Emulation, And Their Miscarriage Taught Others The Way To Success.

Just Praise Is Only A Debt, But Flattery Is A Present.

Their Origin Is Commonly Unknown; For The Practice Often Continues When The Cause Has Ceased, And Concerning Superstitious Ceremonies It Is In Vain To Conjecture; For What Reason Did Not Dictate, Reason Cannot Explain.

None Can Be Pleased Without Praise, And Few Can Be Praised Without Falsehood.

Guilt Has Always Its Horrors And Solicitudes; And, To Make It Yet More Shameful And Detestable, It Is Doomed Often To Stand In Awe Of Those To Whom Nothing Could Give Influence Or Weight But Their Power Of Betraying.

Friendship, Like Love, Is Destroyed By Long Absence, Though It May Be Increased By Short Intermissions.

Wisdom And Virtue Are By No Means Sufficient, Without The Supplemental Laws Of Good-breeding, To Secure Freedom From Degenerating Into Rudeness, Or Self Esteem From Swelling Into Insolence. A Thousand Incivilities May Be Committed, And A Thousand Offices Neglected. Without Any Remorse Of Conscience, Or Reproach From Reason.

Our Desires Always Increase With Our Possessions. The Knowledge That Something Remains Yet Unenjoyed Impairs Our Enjoyment Of The Good Before Us.

Self Improvement

Jesting, Often, Only Proves A Want Of Intellect.

Many Things Difficult To Design Prove Easy To Performance.

Turn On The Prudent Ant, Thy Heedful Eyes, Observe Her Labours, Sluggard, And Be Wise.

The Feeling Of Friendship Is Like That Of Being Comfortably Filled With Roast Beef; Love, Like Being Enlivened With Champagne.

The Gratification Which Affluence Of Wealth, Extent Of Power, And Eminence Of Reputation Confer, Must Be Always, By Their Own Nature, Confined To A Very Small Number; And The Life Of The Greater Part Of Mankind Must Be Lost In Empty Wishes And Painful Comparisons, Were Not The Balm Of Philosophy Shed Upon Us, And Our Discontent At The Appearances Of Unequal Distribution Soothed And Appeased.

Life Affords No Higher Pleasure Than That Of Surmounting Difficulties.

No Man Was More Foolish When He Had Not A Pen In His Hand, Or More Wise When He Had

A Lawyer Has No Business With The Justice Or Injustice Of The Cause Which He Undertakes, Unless His Client Asks His Opinion, And Then He Is Bound To Give It Honestly. The Justice Or Injustice Of The Cause Is To Be Decided By The Judge.

Actions Are Visible, Though Motives Are Secret.

Ignorance, When It Is Voluntary, Is Criminal; And He May Be Properly Charged With Evil Who Refused To Learn How He Might Prevent It.

It Is However, Reasonable, To Have Perfection In Our Eye; That We May Always Advance Towards It, Though We Know It Never Can Be Reached.

That Fellow Seems To Me To Possess But One Idea, And That Is A Wrong One.

If Useless Thoughts Could Be Expelled From The Mind, All The Valuable Parts Of Our Knowledge Would More Frequently Recur.

Life Cannot Subsist In Society But By Reciprocal Concessions.

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.

Promise, Large Promise, Is The Soul Of An Advertisement.

Our Minds, Like Our Bodies, Are In Continual Flux; Something Is Hourly Lost, And Something Acquired.... Do Not Suffer Life To Stagnate; It Will Grow Muddy For Want Of Motion: Commit Yourself Again To The Current Of The World.

Friendship, Compounded Of Esteem And Love, Derives From One Its Tenderness And Its Permanence From The Other.

Lost Friendship

If The Guardian Or The Mother Tell The Woes Of Willful Waste, Scorn Their Counsel And Their Pother, You Can Hang Or Drown At Last.

Curiosity Is One Of The Permanent And Certain Characteristics Of A Vigorous Intellect. Every Advance Into Knowledge Opens New Prospects, And Produces New Incitements To Farther Progress.

Hunting Was The Labour Of The Savages Of North America, But The Amusement Of The Gentlemen Of England.

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.

Life Is Short. The Sooner That A Man Begins To Enjoy His Wealth The Better.

Since Life Itself Is Uncertain, Nothing Which Has Life For Its Basis Can Boast Much Stability.

Irresolution And Mutability Are Often The Faults Of Men Whose Views Are Wide, And Whose Imagination Is Vigorous And Excursive.

The End Of Writing Is To Instruct; The End Of Poetry Is To Instruct By Pleasing.

In Sovereignty There Are No Gradations.

An Infallible Characteristic Of Meanness Is Cruelty. Men Who Have Practiced Tortures On Animals Without Pity, Relating Them Without Shame, How Can They Still Hold Their Heads Among Human Beings?

Cunning Has Effect From The Credulity Of Others, Rather Than From The Abilities Of Those Who Are Cunning. It Requires No Extraordinary Talents To Lie And Deceive.

The Richest Author That Ever Grazed The Common Of Literature.

Of The Blessings Set Before You Make Your Choice, And Be Content.

If We Consider The Manner In Which Those Who Assume The Office Of Directing The Conduct Of Others Execute Their Undertaking, It Will Not Be Very Wonderful That Their Labours, However Zealous Or Affectionate, Are Frequently Useless. For What Is The Advice That Is Commonly Given? A Few General Maxims, Enforced With Vehemence, And Inculcated With Importunity, But Failing For Want Of Particular Reference And Immediate Application.

There Are Occasions On Which It Is Noble To Dare To Stand Alone. To Be Pious Among Infidels, To Be Disinterested In A Time Of General Venality, To Lead A Life Of Virtue And Reason In The Midst Of Sensualists, Is A Proof Of A Mind Intent On Nobler Things Than The Praise Or Blame Of Men, Of A Soul Fixed In The Contemplation Of The Highest Good, And Superiour To The Tyranny Of Custom And Example.

A Vow Is A Snare For Sin

The Business Of Life Is To Go Forward.

Every Man Wishes To Be Wise, And They Who Cannot Be Wise Are Almost Always Cunning.

Every Man Is Of Importance To Himself, And, Therefore, In His Own Opinion, To Others; And, Supposing The World Already Acquainted With His Pleasures And His Pains, Is Perhaps The First To Publish Injuries Or Misfortunes Which Had Never Been Known Unless Related By Himself, And At Which Those That Hear Them Will Only Laugh, For No Man Sympathises With The Sorrows Of Vanity.

...a Man Estimable For His Learning, Amiable For His Life, And Venerable For His Piety. Arbuthnot Was A Man Of Great Comprehension, Skilful In His Profession, Versed In The Sciences, Acquainted With Ancient Literature, And Able To Animate His Mass Of Knowledge By A Bright And Active Imagination; A Scholar With Great Brilliance Of Wit; A Wit Who, In The Crowd Of Life, Retained And Discovered A Noble Ardour Of Religious Zeal.

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.

I Know Not Anything More Pleasant, Or More Instructive, Than To Compare Experience With Expectation, Or To Register From Time To Time The Difference Between Idea And Reality. It Is By This Kind Of Observation That We Grow Daily Less Liable To Be Disappointed.

Players, Sir! I Look On Them As No Better Than Creatures Set Upon Tables And Joint Stools To Make Faces And Produce Laughter, Like Dancing Dogs.

Surely A Long Life Must Be Somewhat Tedious, Since We Are Forced To Call In So Many Trifling Things To Help Rid Us Of Our Time, Which Will Never Return.

Attainment Is Followed By Neglect, Possession By Disgust, And The Malicious Remark Of The Greek Epigrammatist On Marriage May Be Applied To Many Another Course Of Life, That Its Two Days Of Happiness Are The First And The Last

He Is Not Only Dull Himself, But The Cause Of Dulness In Others.

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.

Large Offers And Sturdy Rejections Are Among The Most Common Topics Of Falsehood.

The Authors That In Any Nation Last From Age To Age Are Very Few, Because There Are Very Few That Have Any Other Claim To Notice Than That They Catch Hold On Present Curiosity, And Gratify Some Accidental Desire, Or Produce Some Temporary Conveniency.

It Is Indeed Certain, That Whoever Attempts Any Common Topick, Will Find Unexpected Coincidences Of His Thoughts With Those Of Other Writers; Nor Can The Nicest Judgment Always Distinguish Accidental Similitude From Artful Imitation.

The Business Of A Poet Is To Examine Not The Individual But The Species; To Remark General Properties And Large Appearances.

Social Sorrow Loses Half Its Pain.

That Distrust Which Intrudes So Often On Your Mind Is A Mode Of Melancholy, Which, If It Be The Business Of A Wise Man To Be Happy, It Is Foolish To Indulge; And If It Be A Duty To Preserve Our Faculties Entire For Their Proper Use, It Is Criminal. Suspicion Is Very Often An Useless Pain.

As Every One Is Pleased With Imagining That He Knows Something Not Yet Commonly Divulged, Secret History Easily Gains Credit; But It Is For The Most Part Believed Only While It Circulates In Whispers, And When Once It Is Openly Told, Is Openly Refuted.

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