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

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

Understanding the Quote: "the reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes..."

This quote by Samuel Johnson reflects deeply on the theme of farce. It connects to the universal human journey of purpose, motivation, and reflection. Often categorized under Farce, Civility, Scene, 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 farce and civility. 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.

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Topic
Farce
Civility
Scene
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My Dear Friend, Clear Your Mind Of Can't.
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Difference Of Thoughts Will Produce Difference Of Language. He That Thinks With More Extent Than Another, Will Want Words Of A Larger Meaning; He That Thinks With More Subtilty Will Seek For Terms Of More Nice Discrimination; And Where Is The Wonder, Since Words Are But The Images Of Things, That He Who Never Knew The Original Should Not Know The Copies?
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Hope Is Itself A Species Of Happiness.
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A Generous And Elevated Mind Is Distinguished By Nothing More Certainly Than An Eminent Degree Of Curiosity.
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No Man Is Defeated Without Some Resentment Which Will Be Continued With Obstinacy While He Believes Himself In The Right, And Asserted With Bitterness, If Even To His Own Conscience He Is Detected In The Wrong.
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"uisce Beatha" Is A Compounded Distilled Spirit Being Drawn On Aromatics, And The Irish Sort Is Particularly Distinguished For Its Pleasant And Mild Flavour.
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Politics Are Now Nothing More Than Means Of Rising In The World. With This Sole View Do Men Engage In Politics, And Their Whole Conduct Proceeds Upon It.
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To Understand The Works Of Celebrated Authors, To Comprehend Their Systems, And Retain Their Reasonings, Is A Task More Than Equal To Common Intellects; And He Is By No Means To Be Accounted Useless Or Idle, Who Has Stored His Mind With Acquired Knowledge, And Can Detail It Occasionally To Others Who Have Less Leisure Or Weaker Abilities.
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By Those Who Look Close To The Ground Dirt Will Be Seen. I Hope I See Things From A Greater Distance.
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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.
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There Is Nothing Against Which An Old Man Should Be So Much Upon His Guard As Putting Himself To Nurse.
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We Seldom Learn The True Want Of What We Have Till It Is Discovered That We Can Have No More.
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He Left The Name At Which The World Grew Pale, To Point A Moral, Or Adorn A Tale.
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The General Remedy Of Those Who Are Uneasy Without Knowing The Cause Is Change Of Place.
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Persius Has Justly Observed, That Knowledge Is Nothing To Him Who Is Not Known By Others To Possess It: To The Scholar Himself It Is Nothing With Respect Either To Honour Or Advantage, For The World Cannot Reward Those Qualities Which Are Concealed From It; With Respect To Others It Is Nothing, Because It Affords No Help To Ignorance Or Errour.
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The First Step To Greatness Is To Be Honest.
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Getting Money Is Not All A Man's Business: To Cultivate Kindness Is A Valuable Part Of The Business Of Life.
Life
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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
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Wretched Un-idea'd Girls.
Girl
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The Joy Of Life Is Variety; The Tenderest Love Requires To Be Rekindled By Intervals Of Absence.
Diversity
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The Specualtist, Who Is Not Content With Superficial Views, Harasses Himself With Fruitless Curiosity; And Still, As He Inquires More, Perceives Only That He Knows Less.
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I Am Not Able To Instruct You. I Can Only Tell That I Have Chosen Wrong. I Have Passed My Time In Study Without Experience; In The Attainment Of Sciences Which Can, For The Most Part, Be But Remotely Useful To Mankind. I Have Purchased Knowledge At The Expense Of All The Common Comforts Of Life: I Have Missed The Endearing Elegance Of Female Friendship, And The Happy Commerce Of Domestic Tenderness.
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Nothing Is More Common Than To Find Men, Whose Works Are Now Totally Neglected, Mentioned With Praises By Their Contemporaries As The Oracles Of Their Age, And The Legislators Of Science.
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Friendship Is Seldom Lasting But Between Equals, Or Where The Superiority On One Side Is Reduced By Some Equivalent Advantage On The Other.
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Few Of Those Who Fill The World With Books, Have Any Pretensions To The Hope Either Of Pleasing Or Instructing. They Have Often No Other Task Than To Lay Two Books Before Them, Out Of Which They Compile A Third, Without Any New Material Of Their Own, And With Very Little Application Of Judgment To Those Which Former Authors Have Supplied.
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The Truly Strong And Sound Mind Is The Mind That Can Embrace Equally Great Things And Small.
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Wickedness Is Always Easier Than Virtue; For It Takes The Short Cut To Everything.
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Whoever Wishes To Attain An English Style, Familiar But Not Coarse, And Elegant But Not Ostentatious, Must Give His Days And Nights To The Volumes Of Addison.
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I Respect Millar, Sir: He Has Raised The Price Of Literature.
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Every Old Man Complains Of The Growing Depravity Of The World, Of The Petulance And Insolence Of The Rising Generation.
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It Is Better To Suffer Wrong Than To Do It.
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Nothing Is Difficult, When Gain And Honour Unite Their Influence.
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Fine Clothes Are Good Only As They Supply The Want Of Other Means Of Procuring Respect.
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A Country Is In A Bad State, Which Is Governed Only By Laws; Because A Thousand Things Occur For Which Laws Cannot Provide, And Where Authority Ought To Interpose.
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I Remember Very Well, When I Was At Oxford, An Old Gentleman Said To Me, "young Man, Ply Your Book Diligently Now, And Acquire A Stock Of Knowledge; For When Years Come Upon You, You Will Find That Poring Upon Books Will Be But An Irksome Task.
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Reason And Truth Will Prevail At Last
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That We Must All Die, We Always Knew, I Wish I Had Sooner Remembred It.
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Bias And Impartiality Is In The Eye Of The Beholder.
Eye
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I Know Not, Madam, That You Have A Right, Upon Moral Principles, To Make Your Readers Suffer So Much.
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Politeness Is One Of Those Advantages Which We Never Estimate Rightly But By The Inconvenience Of Its Loss.
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There Must Always Be Some Advantage On One Side Or The Other, And It Is Better That Advantage Should Be Had By Talents Than By Chance.
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We Love To Expect, And When Expectation Is Either Disappointed Or Gratified, We Want To Be Again Expecting.
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The Happiness Of London Is Not To Be Conceived But By Those Who Have Been In It.
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Ignorance Is Mere Privation By Which Nothing Can Be Produced: It Is A Vacuity In Which The Soul Sits Motionless And Torpid For Want Of Attraction: And, Without Knowing Why, We Always Rejoice When We Learn, And Grieve When We Forget.
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It Is Very Natural For Young Men To Be Vehement, Acrimonious And Severe. For As They Seldom Comprehend At Once All The Consequences Of A Position, Or Perceive The Difficulties By Which Cooler And More Experienced Reasoners Are Restrained From Confidence, They Form Their Conclusions With Great Precipitance. Seeing Nothing That Can Darken Or Embarrass The Question, They Expect To Find Their Own Opinion Universally Prevalent, And Are Inclined To Impute Uncertainty And Hesitation To Want Of Honesty, Rather Than Of Knowledge.
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No Wise Man Will Go To Live In The Country, Unless He Has Something To Do Which Can Be Better Done In The Country. For Instance, If He Is To Shut Himself Up For A Year To Study Science, It Is Better To Look Out To The Fields, Than To An Opposite Wall. Then, If A Man Walks Out In The Country, There Is Nobody To Keep Him From Walking In Again: But If A Man Walks Out In London, He Is Not Sure When He Will Walk In Again. A Great City Is, To Be Sure, The School For Studying Life.
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When A Man Is Tried Of London, He Is Tired Of Life.
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Enlarge My Life With Multitude Of Days, In Health, In Sickness, Thus The Suppliant Prays; Hides From Himself His State, And Shuns To Know, That Life Protracted Is Protracted Woe. Time Hovers O'er, Impatient To Destroy, And Shuts Up All The Passages Of Joy.
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Whoever Envies Another Confesses His Superiority.
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Misery And Shame Are Nearly Allied.
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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.
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He That Fails In His Endeavors After Wealth Or Power Will Not Long Retain Either Honesty Or Courage.
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By Writing, You Learn To Write.
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Vanity Is So Frequently The Apparent Motive Of Advice That We, For The Most Part, Summon Our Powers To Oppose It Without Very Accurate Inquiry Whether It Is Right. It Is Sufficient That Another Is Growing Great In His Own Eyes At Our Expense, And Assumes Authority Over Us Without Our Permission; For Many Would Contentedly Suffer The Consequences Of Their Own Mistakes, Rather Than The Insolence Of Him Who Triumphs As Their Deliverer.
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Studious To Please, Yet Not Ashamed To Fail.
Failure
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If Lawyers Were To Undertake No Causes Till They Were Sure They Were Just, A Man Might Be Precluded Altogether From A Trial Of His Claim, Though, Were It Judicially Examined, It Might Be Found A Very Just Claim.
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Love Is The Wisdom Of The Fool And The Folly Of The Wise.
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A Poet, Naturalist, And Historian, Who Left Scarcely Any Style Of Writing Untouched, And Touched Nothing That He Did Not Adorn.
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All Knowledge Is Of Itself Of Some Value. There Is Nothing So Minute Or Inconsiderable, That I Would Not Rather Know It Than Not. In The Same Manner, All Power, Of Whatever Sort, Is Of Itself Desirable. A Man Would Not Submit To Learn To Hem A Ruffle, Of His Wife, Or His Wife's Maid; But If A Mere Wish Could Attain It, He Would Rather Wish To Be Able To Hem A Ruffle.
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Diffidence May Check Resolution And Obstruct Performance, But Compensates Its Embarrassments By More Important Advantages; It Conciliates The Proud, And Softens The Severe; Averts Envy From Excellence, And Censure From Miscarriage.
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"i Fly From Pleasure," Said The Prince, "because Pleasure Has Ceased To Please; I Am Lonely Because I Am Miserable, And Am Unwilling To Cloud With My Presence The Happiness Of Others."
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He That Teaches Us Anything Which We Knew Not Before Is Undoubtedly To Be Reverenced As A Master.
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Wit Is That Which Has Been Often Thought, But Never Before Was Well Expressed.
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He Who Would Govern His Actions By The Laws Of Virtue Must Regulate His Thoughts By Those Of Reason.
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When Speculation Has Done Its Worst, Two And Two Still Make Four.
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Such Is The Pleasure Of Projecting That Many Content Themselves With A Succession Of Visionary Schemes, And Wear Out Their Allotted Time In The Calm Amusement Of Contriving What They Never Attempt Or Hope To Execute.
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Money And Time Are The Heaviest Burdens Of Life, And... The Unhappiest Of All Mortals Are Those Who Have More Of Either Than They Know How To Use.
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When A Man Feel The Reprehension Of A Friend Seconded By His Own Heart, He Is Easily Heated Into Resentment.
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Learn That The Present Hour Alone Is Man's.
Life
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When Desperate Ills Demand A Speedy Cure, Distrust Is Cowardice, And Prudence Folly.
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Men Have Solicitude About Fame; And The Greater Share They Have Of It, The More Afraid They Are Of Losing It.
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Before Dinner Men Meet With Great Inequality Of Understanding; And Those Who Are Conscious Of Their Inferiority Have The Modesty Not To Talk; When They Have Drunk Wine, Every Man Feels Himself Happy, And Loses That Modesty, And Grows Impudent And Vociferous; But He Is Not Improved; He Is Only Not Sensible Of His Defects.
Wine
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Misery Is Caused For The Most Part, Not By A Heavy Crush Of Disaster, But By The Corrosion Of Less Visible Evils, Which Canker Enjoyment, And Undermine Security. The Visit Of An Invader Is Necessarily Rare, But Domestic Animosities Allow No Cessation.
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We Never Do Anything Consciously For The Last Time Without Sadness Of Heart.
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What Is Easy Is Seldom Excellent.
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Among The Calamities Of War May Be Numbered The Diminution Of The Love Of Truth, By The Falsehoods Which Interest Dictates, And Credulity Encourages.
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You Cannot, By All The Lecturing In The World, Enable A Man To Make A Shoe.
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There Is No Wisdom In Useless And Hopeless Sorrow, But There Is Something In It So Like Virtue, That He Who Is Wholly Without It Cannot Be Loved.
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Quotation Is A Good Thing, There Is A Community Of Thought In It.
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In A Time Of War The Nation Is Always Of One Mind, Eager To Hear Something Good Of Themselves And Ill Of The Enemy. At This Time The Task Of The News-writer Is Easy; They Have Nothing To Do But To Tell That A Battle Is Expected, And Afterwards That A Battle Has Been Fought, In Which We And Our Friends, Whether Conquering Or Conquered, Did All, And Our Enemies Did Nothing.
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There Are Minds So Impatient Of Inferiority That Their Gratitude Is A Species Of Revenge, And They Return Benefits, Not Because Recompense Is A Pleasure, But Because Obligation Is A Pain.
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Expectation Improperly Indulged In Must End In Disappointment.
Disappointment
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Ends
Yet It Is Necessary To Hope, Though Hope Should Always Be Deluded, For Hope Itself Is Happiness, And Its Frustrations, However Frequent, Are Yet Less Dreadful Than Its Extinction.
Hope
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In Order That All Men May Be Taught To Speak Truth, It Is Necessary That All Likewise Should Learn To Hear It; For No Species Of Falsehood Is More Frequent Than Flattery, To Which The Coward Is Betrayed By Fear, The Dependent By Interest, And The Friend By Tenderness: Those Who Are Neither Servile Nor Timorous Are Yet Desirous To Bestow Pleasure; And, While Unjust Demands Of Praise Continue To Be Made, There Will Always Be Some Whom Hope, Fear, Or Kindness Will Dispose To Pay Them.
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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.
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Imagination
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A Man Should Be Careful Never To Tell Tales Of Himself To His Own Disadvantage. People May Be Amused At The Time, But They Will Be Remembered, And Brought Out Against Him Upon Some Subsequent Occasion.
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People
Pendantry Is The Unseasonable Ostentation Of Learning. It May Be Discovered Either In The Choice Of A Subject Or In The Manner D Treating It.
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May
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Catch, Then, Oh! Catch The Transient Hour, Improve Each Moment As It Flies; Life's A Short Summer-man A Flower; He Dies-alas! How Soon He Dies!
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Summer
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Between Falsehood And Useless Truth There Is Little Difference. As Gold Which He Cannot Spend Will Make No Man Rich, So Knowledge Which Cannot Apply Will Make No Man Wise.
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It Would Add Much To Human Happiness, If An Art Could Be Taught Of Forgetting All Of Which The Remembrance Is At Once Useless And Afflictive, That The Mind Might Perform Its Functions Without Encumbrance, And The Past Might No Longer Encroach Upon The Present.
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It Is More From Carelessness About Truth Than From Intentionally Lying That There Is So Much Falsehood In The World.
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World
There Is ... Scarcely Any Species Of Writing Of Which We Can Tell What Is Its Essence, And What Are Its Constituents; Every New Genius Produces Some Innovation, Which, When Invented And Approved, Subverts The Rules Which The Practice Of Foregoing Authors Had Established.
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A Man May Write At Any Time, If He Will Set Himself Doggedly To It.
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Spite And Ill-nature Are Among The Most Expensive Luxuries In Life.
Luxury
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It Is A Most Mortifying Reflection For A Man To Consider What He Has Done, Compared To What He Might Have Done.
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Shakespeare Never Had Six Lines Together Without A Fault. Perhaps You May Find Seven, But This Does Not Refute My General Assertion.
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A Fishing Rod Is A Stick With A Hook At One End And A Fool At The Other.
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Knowledge Is More Than Equivalent To Force. The Master Of Mechanics Laughs At Strength.
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The Mind Is Never Satisfied With The Objects Immediately Before It, But Is Always Breaking Away From The Present Moment, And Losing Itself In Schemes Of Future Felicity... The Natural Flights Of The Human Mind Are Not From Pleasure To Pleasure, But From Hope To Hope.
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Breaking Away
Anticipation
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Personal Knowledge
Forever
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Is Not A Patron One Who Looks With Unconcern On A Man Struggling For Life In The Water, And, When He Has Reached Ground, Encumbers Him With Help?
Struggle
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To Be Prejudiced Is Always To Be Weak; Yet There Are Prejudices So Near To Laudable That They Have Been Often Praised And Are Always Pardoned.
Prejudice
Weak
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Pleasure That Is Obtained By Unreasonable And Unsuitable Cost Must Always End In Pain.
Pain
Cost
Pleasure
By The Consultation Of Books, Whether Of Dead Or Living Authors, Many Temptations To Petulance And Opposition, Which Occur In Oral Conferences, Are Avoided. An Author Cannot Obtrude His Service Unasked, Nor Can Be Often Suspected Of Any Malignant Intention To Insult His Readers With His Knowledge Or His Wit. Yet So Prevalent Is The Habit Of Comparing Ourselves With Others, While They Remain Within The Reach Of Our Passions, That Books Are Seldom Read With Complete Impartiality, But By Those From Whom The Writer Is Placed At Such A Distance That His Life Or Death Is Indifferent.
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The Best Part Of Every Author Is In General To Be Found In His Book, I Assure You.
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Found
Self-love Is A Busy Prompter.
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Education
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Faction Seldom Leaves A Man Honest, However It Might Find Him.
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Dictionaries Are Like Watches, The Worst Is Better Than None And The Best Cannot Be Expected To Go Quite True.
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An Italian Philosopher Said That "time Was His Estate"; An Estate Indeed Which Will Produce Nothing Without Cultivation, But Will Always Abundantly Repay The Labors Of Industry, And Generally Satisfy The Most Extensive Desires, If No Part Of It Be Suffered To Lie In Waste By Negligence, To Be Overrun With Noxious Plants, Or Laid Out For Show Rather Than For Use.
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Italian
Desire
They Make A Rout About Universal Liberty, Without Considering That All That Is To Be Valued, Or Indeed Can Be Enjoyed By Individuals, Is Private Liberty.
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The Size Of A Man's Understanding Might Always Be Justly Measured By His Mirth.
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Men
Whoever Shall Review His Life, Will Find That The Whole Tenor Of His Conduct Has Been Determined By Some Accident Of No Apparent Moment.
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It Is Surely Very Narrow Policy That Supposes Money To Be The Chief Good.
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The Desires Of Man Increase With His Acquisitions.
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It Is Better That Some Should Be Unhappy Rather Than That None Should Be Happy, Which Would Be The Case In A General State Of Equality.
Happiness
Equality
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It Is To Be Steadily Inculcated, That Virtue Is The Highest Proof Of Understanding, And The Only Solid Basis Of Greatness.
Greatness
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Wine Gives Great Pleasure, And Every Pleasure Is Of Itself A Good. And A Man Should Cultivate His Mind So As To Have That Confidence And Readiness Without Wine, Which Wine Gives.
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Men
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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
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Ends
The Law Is The Last Result Of Human Wisdom Acting Upon Human Experience For The Benefit Of The Public.
Wisdom
Law
Acting
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.
Life
Struggle
Men
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
Man Is A Transitory Being, And His Designs Must Partake Of The Imperfections Their Author.
Men
Design
Imperfection
To Have The Management Of The Mind Is A Great Art, And It May Be Attained In A Considerable Degree By Experience And Habitual Exercise.
Happiness
Art
Exercise
Each Change Of Many-colour'd Life He Drew, Exhausted Worlds, And Then Imagin'd New.
Life
Change
World
I Have Always Considered It As Treason Against The Great Republic Of Human Nature, To Make Any Man's Virtues The Means Of Deceiving Him.
Lying
Mean
Men
As Peace Is The End Of War, So To Be Idle Is The Ultimate Purpose Of The Busy.
Peace
War
Purpose
No People Can Be Great Who Have Ceased To Be Virtuous.
People
Liberty
Virtue
I Know Not Why Any One But A School Boy In His Declamation Would Whine Over The Commonwealth Of Rome, Which Grew Great Only By The Misery Of The Rest Of Mankind. The Romans, Like Others, As Soon As They Were Rich, Grew Corrupt; And In Their Corruption Sold The Lives And Freedoms Of Themselves And Of One Another.
School
Boys
Rome
Knock The 't' Off The 'can't.'
Confidence
Insightful
New Things Are Made Familiar, And Familiar Things Are Made New.
Made
Familiar
Familiar Things
As The Mind Must Govern The Hands, So In Every Society The Man Of Intelligence Must Direct The Man Of Labor.
Men
Hands
Intelligence
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.
Giving
Guilt
Weight
Criticism, Though Dignified From The Earliest Ages By The Labours Of Men Eminent For Knowledge And Sagacity, Has Not Yet Attained The Certainty And Stability Of Science.
Knowledge
Science
Men
Laws Teach Us To Know When We Commit Injury And When We Suffer It.
Law
Suffering
Injury
How Many May A Man Of Diffusive Conversation Count Among His Acquaintances, Whose Lives Have Been Signalized By Numberless Escapes; Who Never Cross The River But In A Storm, Or Take A Journey Into The Country Without More Adventures Than Befel The Knights-errant Of Ancient Times In Pathless Forests Or Enchanted Castles! How Many Must He Know, To Whom Portents And Prodigies Are Of Daily Occurrence; And For Whom Nature Is Hourly Working Wonders Invisible To Every Other Eye, Only To Supply Them With Subjects Of Conversation?
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Adventure
Eye
Patron: One Who Countenances, Supports Or Protects. Commonly A Wretch Who Supports With Insolence, And Is Repaid In Flattery.
Support
Flattery
Patronage
Conjecture As To Things Useful, Is Good; But Conjecture As To What It Would Be Useless To Know, Is Very Idle.
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Useless
Theory
Poverty Has, In Large Cities, Very Different Appearances; It Is Often Concealed In Splendour, And Often In Extravagance.
Cities
Different
Extravagance
There Is Nothing, Sir, Too Little For So Little A Creature As Man. It Is By Studying Little Things That We Attain The Great Art Of Having As Little Misery And As Much Happiness As Possible.
Happiness
Art
Men
No Man, However Enslaved To His Appetites, Or Hurried By His Passions, Can, While He Preserves His Intellects Unimpaired, Please Himself With Promoting The Corruption Of Others. He Whose Merit Has Enlarged His Influence Would Surely Wish To Exert It For The Benefit Of Mankind. Yet Such Will Be The Effect Of His Reputation, While He Suffers Himself To Indulge In Any Favourite Fault, That They Who Have No Hope To Reach His Excellence Will Catch At His Failings, And His Virtues Will Be Cited To Justify The Copiers Of His Vices.
Passion
Men
Indulge In
The Blaze Of Reputation Cannot Be Blown Out, But It Often Dies In The Socket; A Very Few Names May Be Considered As Perpetual Lamps That Shine Unconsumed.
Names
Shining
Lamps
Where There Is Emulation, There Will Be Vanity; Where There Is Vanity, There Will Be Folly.
Vanity
Emulation
Folly
Perhaps Man Is The Only Being That Can Properly Be Called Idle.
Men
Laziness
Idle
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
Scarcely Any Degree Of Judgment Is Sufficient To Restrain The Imagination From Magnifying That On Which It Is Long Detained
Long
Imagination
Judging
Silence Propagates Itself, And The Longer Talk Has Been Suspended, The More Difficult It Is To Find Anything To Say.
Silence
Difficult
Has Beens
Almost All Absurdity Of Conduct Arises From The Imitation Of Those Who We Cannot Resemble.
Being Yourself
Lexicographer
Criminal Mind
Friendship Is Not Always The Sequel Of Obligation.
Friendship
Obligation
Sequels
Every Government Is Perpetually Degenerating Towards Corruption, From Which It Must Be Rescued At Certain Periods By The Resuscitation Of Its First Principles, And The Re-establishment Of Its Original Constitution.
Government
Principles
Firsts
I Am Very Fond Of The Company Of Ladies. I Like Their Beauty, I Like Their Delicacy, I Like Their Vivacity, And I Like Their Silence.
Beauty
Silence
Delicacy
The Authour Who Imitates His Predecessors Only By Furnishing Himself With Thoughts And Elegances Out Of The Same General Magazine Of Literature, Can With Little More Propriety Be Reproached As A Plagiary, Than The Architect Can Be Censured As A Mean Copier Of Angelo Or Wren, Because He Digs His Marble Out Of The Same Quarry, Squares His Stones By The Same Art, And Unites Them In Columns Of The Same Orders.
Art
Mean
Writing
It Is Man's Own Fault, It Is From Want Of Use, If His Mind Grows Torpid In Old Age.
Men
Mind
Age
In Traveling, A Man Must Carry Knowledge With Him, If He Would Bring Home Knowledge.
Travel
Home
Men
All History Was At First Oral.
History
Firsts
If In An Actor There Appears An Utter Vacancy Of Meaning, A Frigid Equality, A Stupid Languor, A Torpid Apathy, The Greatest Kindness That Can Be Shown Him Is A Speedy Sentence Of Expulsion.
Kindness
Stupid
Apathy
It Is Generally Agreed, That Few Men Are Made Better By Affluence Or Exaltation.
Money
Men
Exaltation
Kindness Is In Our Power, Even When Fondness Is Not.
Kindness
Inspiration
Social
The Care Of The Critic Should Be To Distinguish Error From Inability, Faults Of Inexperience From Defects Of Nature.
Errors
Inexperience
Inability
Combinations Of Wickedness Would Overwhelm The World, By The Advantage Which Licentious Principles Afford, Did Not Those Who Have Long Practised Perfidy Grow Faithless To Each Other.
Long
Evil
Principles
Cunning Differs From Wisdom As Twilight From Open Day.
Twilight
Cunning
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
Where No Man Thinks Himself Under Any Obligation To Submit To Another, And, Instead Of Co-operating In One Great Scheme, Every One Hastens Through By-paths To Private Profit, No Great Change Can Suddenly Be Made; Nor Is Superior Knowledge Of Much Effect, Where Every Man Resolves To Use His Own Eyes And His Own Judgment, And Every One Applauds His Own Dexterity And Diligence, In Proportion As He Becomes Rich Sooner Than His Neighbour.
Eye
Men
Thinking
Of Riches It Is Not Necessary To Write The Praise. Let It, However, Be Remembered That He Who Has Money To Spare Has It Always In His Power To Benefit Others, And Of Such Power A Good Man Must Always Be Desirous.
Writing
Men
Good Man
It Generally Happens That Assurance Keeps An Even Pace With Ability.
Confidence
Genius
Pace
The Violence Of War Admits No Distinction; The Lance, That Is Lifted At Guilt And Power, Will Sometimes Fall On Innocence And Gentleness.
War
Fall
Guilt
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.
Writing
Bird
Privacy
To Be Of No Church Is Dangerous.
Religion
Church
Dangerous
Fear Naturally Quickens The Flight Of Guilt.
Fear
Guilt
Flight
From Ignorance Our Comfort Flows, The Only Wretched Are The Wise
Wise
Ignorance
Comfort
I Have Always Considered A Clergyman As The Father Of A Larger Family Than He Is Able To Maintain.
Father
Able
Clergymen
What Is Good Only Because It Pleases Cannot Be Pronounced Good Till It Has Been Found To Please.
Goodness
Found
Please
To Dread No Eye And To Suspect No Tongue Is The Great Prerogative Of Innocence--an Exemption Granted Only To Invariable Virtue.
Eye
Tongue
Innocence
He That Would Travel For The Entertainment Of Others, Should Remember That The Great Object Of Remark Is Human Life. Every Nation Has Something Peculiar In Its Manufactures, Its Works Of Genius, Its Medicines, Its Agriculture, Its Customs, And Its Policy. He Only Is A Useful Traveller, Who Brings Home Something By Which His Country May Be Benefited; Who Procures Some Supply Of Want, Or Some Mitigation Of Evil, Which May Enable His Readers To Compare Their Condition With That Of Others, To Improve It Whenever It Is Worse, And Whenever It Is Better To Enjoy It.
Country
Home
Medicine
Exactness Is First Obtained, And Afterwards Elegance. But Diction, Merely Vocal, Is Always In Its Childhood. As No Man Leaves His Eloquence Behind Him, The New Generations Have All To Learn. There May Possibly Be Books Without A Polished Language, But There Can Be No Polished Language Without Books.
Book
Men
Childhood
In His Comic Scenes, Shakespeare Seems To Produce, Without Labor, What No Labor Can Improve.
Scene
Comic
Produce
When A Man Is Tired Of London, He Is Tired Of Life; For There Is In London All That Life Can Afford.
Life
Tired
Men
I Live In The Crowd Of Jollity, Not So Much To Enjoy Company As To Shun Myself.
Crowds
Enjoy
Company
In Questions Of Law Or Of Fact Conscience Is Very Often Confounded With Opinion. No Man's Conscience Can Tell Him The Rights Of Another Man; They Must Be Known By Rational Investigation Or Historical Inquiry.
Wisdom
Men
Rights
There Is No Wisdom In Useless And Hopeless Sorrow.
Wisdom
Sorrow
Useless
Every Desire Is A Viper In The Bosom, Who While He Was Chill Was Harmless; But When Warmth Gave Him Strength, Exerted It In Poison.
Desire
Poison
Vipers
Pity Is Not Natural To Man. Children Always Are Cruel. Savages Are Always Cruel.
Children
Men
Savages
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
The Wretched Have No Compassion, They Can Do Good Only From Strong Principles Of Duty.
Strong
Compassion
Principles
Invention Is Almost The Only Literary Labour Which Blindness Cannot Obstruct.
Writing
Invention
Blindness
I Would Advise No Man To Marry Who Is Not Likely To Propagate Understanding.
Marriage
Wedding
Men
False Taste Is Always Busy To Mislead Those That Are Entering Upon The Regions Of Learning; And The Traveller, Uncertain Of His Way, And Forsaken By The Sun, Will Be Pleased To See A Fainter Orb Arise On The Horizon, That May Rescue Him From Total Darkness, Though With Weak And Borrowed Lustre.
Ignorance
Darkness
Horizon
The Safe And General Antidote Against Sorrow Is Employment.
Sorrow
Employment
Safe
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.
Truth
May
Strange
Among The Numerous Stratagems By Which Pride Endeavors To Recommend Folly To Regard, There Is Scarcely One That Meets With Less Success Than Affectation, Or A Perpetual Disguise Of The Real Character By Fictitious Appearances.
Real
Character
Pride
We Are Inclined To Believe Those Whom We Do Not Know Because They Have Never Deceived Us.
Life
Trust
Believe
As To The Christian Religion, Besides The Strong Evidence Which We Have For It, There Is A Balance In Its Favor From The Number Of Great Men Who Have Been Convinced Of Its Truth After A Serious Consideration Of The Question. Grotius Was An Acute Man, A Lawyer, A Man Accustomed To Examine Evidence, And He Was Convinced. Grotius Was Not A Recluse, But A Man Of The World, Who Certainly Had No Bias On The Side Of Religion. Sir Isaac Newton Set Out An Infidel, And Came To Be A Very Firm Believer.
Christian
Strong
Men
Guilt Once Harbored In The Conscious Breast, Intimidates The Brave, Degrades The Great.
Brave
Guilt
Intimidating
Great Works Are Performed, Not By Strength, But By Perseverance. Those That Walk With Vigor, Three Hours A Day, Will Pass In Seven Years A Space Equal To The Circumference Of The Globe.
Perseverance
Years
Space
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