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The Wickedness Of A Loose Or Profane Author Is More Atrocious Than That Of A Giddy Libertine Or Drunken Ravisher, Not Only Because It Extends Its Effects Wider, As A Pestilence That Taints The Air Is More Destructive Than Poison Infused In A Draught, But Because It Is Committed With Cool Deliberation.

-Samuel Johnson

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The Wickedness Of A

Samuel Johnson

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The Wickedness Of A Loose Or Profane Author Is More Atrocious Than That Of A Giddy Libertine Or Drunken Ravisher, Not Only Because It Extends Its Effects Wider, As A Pestilence That Taints The Air Is More Destructive Than Poison Infused In A Draught, But Because It Is Committed With Cool Deliberation.

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The Natural Flights Of The Human Mind Are Not From Pleasure To Pleasure, But From Hope To Hope.

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

All History Was At First Oral.

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.

Whoever Shall Review His Life, Will Find That The Whole Tenor Of His Conduct Has Been Determined By Some Accident Of No Apparent Moment.

When Speculation Has Done Its Worst, Two And Two Still Make Four.

He Who Sees Different Ways To The Same End, Will, Unless He Watches Carefully Over His Own Conduct, Lay Out Too Much Of His Attention Upon The Comparison Of Probabilities And The Adjustment Of Expedients, And Pause In The Choice Of His Road, Till Some Accident Intercepts His Journey.

I Wish There Were Some Cure, Like The Lover's Leap, For All Heads Of Which Some Single Idea Has Obtained An Unreasonable And Irregular Possession.

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.

In Order That All Men Might Be Taught To Speak Truth, It Is Necessary That All Likewise Should Learn To Hear It.

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.

Men Are Generally Idle, And Ready To Satisfy Themselves, And Intimidate The Industry Of Others, By Calling That Impossible Which Is Only Difficult.

The Process Is The Reality.

Network. Anything Reticulated Or Decussated At Equal Distances, With Interstices Between The Intersections.

Parents And Children Seldom Act In Concert: Each Child Endeavors To Appropriate The Esteem Or Fondness Of The Parents, And The Parents, With Yet Less Temptation, Betray Each Other To Their Children.

This Mournful Truth Is Everywhere Confessed, Slow Rises Worth By Poverty Depressed.

Actions Are Visible, Though Motives Are Secret.

There Mark What Ills The Scholar's Life Assail, Toil, Envy, Want, And Patron.

Solitude Is Dangerous To Reason, Without Being Favourable To Virtue. Remember That The Solitary Mortal Is Certainly Luxurious, Probably Superstitious, And Possibly Mad.

To Read, Write, And Converse In Due Proportions, Is, Therefore, The Business Of A Man Of Letters.

His Virtues Walked Their Narrow Round, Nor Made A Pause, Nor Left A Void; And Sure The Eternal Master Found The Single Talent Well Employed.

Those Authors Who Would Find Many Readers, Must Endeavour To Please While They Instruct.

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

He Who Fails To Please In His Salutation And Address Is At Once Rejected, And Never Obtains An Opportunity Of Showing His Latest Excellences Or Essential Qualities.

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

Gloomy Calm Of Idle Vacancy.

A Voyage To The Moon, However Romantick And Absurd The Scheme May Now Appear, Since The Properties Of Air Have Been Better Understood, Seemed Highly Probable To Many Of The Aspiring Wits In The Last Century

When Desperate Ills Demand A Speedy Cure, Distrust Is Cowardice, And Prudence Folly.

Of All The Griefs That Harass The Distress'd, Sure The Most Bitter Is A Scornful Jest; Fate Never Wounds More Deep The Generous Heart, Than When A Blockhead's Insult Points The Dart.

All To Whom Want Is Terrible, Upon Whatever Principle, Ought To Think Themselves Obliged To Learn The Sage Maxims Of Our Parsimonious Ancestors, And Attain The Salutary Arts Of Contracting Expense; For Without Economy None Can Be Rich, And With It Few Can Be Poor.

A Fellow Will Hack Half A Year At A Block Of Marble To Make Something In Stone That Hardly Resembles A Man. The Value Of Statuary Is Owing To Its Difficulty. You Would Not Value The Finest Head Cut Upon A Carrot.

No Degree Of Knowledge Attainable By Man Is Able To Set Him Above The Want Of Hourly Assistance, Or To Extinguish The Desire Of Fond Endearments And Tender Officiousness; And, Therefore, No One Should Think It Unnecessary To Learn Those Arts By Which Friendship May Be Gained.

All Industry Must Be Excited By Hope.

What Is Said Upon A Subject Is Gathered From An Hundred People.

You Raise Your Voice When You Should Reinforce Your Argument.

Sir, If You Wish To Have A Just Notion Of The Magnitude Of This City, You Must Not Be Satisfied With Seeing Its Great Streets And Squares, But Must Survey The Innumerable Little Lanes And Courts. It Is Not In The Showy Evolutions Of Buildings, But In The Multiplicity Of Human Habitations Which Are Crowded Together, That The Wonderful Immensity Of London Consists.

To Expect That The Intricacies Of Science Will Be Pierced By A Careless Glance, Or The Eminences Of Fame Ascended Without Labour, Is To Expect A Peculiar Privilege, A Power Denied To The Rest Of Mankind; But To Suppose That The Maze Is Inscrutable To Diligence, Or The Heights Inaccessible To Perseverance, Is To Submit Tamely To The Tyranny Of Fancy, And Enchain The Mind In Voluntary Shackles.

If A Man Has A Science To Learn He Must Regularly And Resolutely Advance.

The Charm Of London Is That You Are Never Glad Or Sorry For Ten Minutes Together; In The Country You Are One Or The Other For Weeks.

Time Quickly Puts An End To Artificial And Accidental Fame

The Most Fatal Disease Of Friendship Is Gradual Decay.

No People Can Be Great Who Have Ceased To Be Virtuous.

Sorrow Is The Mere Rust Of The Soul. Activity Will Cleanse And Brighten It.

Agriculture Not Only Gives Riches To A Nation, But The Only Riches She Can Call Her Own.

Unless A Woman Has An Amorous Heart, She Is A Dull Companion.

This World, Where Much Is To Be Done And Little To Be Known.

The Truth Is That The Spectators Are Always In Their Senses, And Know, From The First Act To The Last, That The Stage Is Only A Stage, And That The Players Are Only Players.

We May Take Fancy For A Companion, But Must Follow Reason As Our Guide.

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.

Nothing Will Ever Be Attempted If All Possible Objections Must First Be Overcome.

Babies Do Not Want To Hear About Babies; They Like To Be Told Of Giants And Castles.

I Am Willing To Love All Of Mankind, Except An American.

For Sorrow There Is No Remedy Provided By Nature; It Is Often Occasioned By Accidents Irreparable, And Dwells Upon Objects That Have Lost Or Changed Their Existence; It Requires What It Cannot Hope, That The Laws Of The Universe Should Be Repealed; That The Dead Should Return, Or The Past Should Be Recalled.

Hope Is Necessary In Every Condition. The Miseries Of Poverty, Of Sickness, Or Captivity, Would, Without This Comfort, Be Insupportable; Nor Does It Appear That The Happiest Lot Of Terrestrial Existence Can Set Us Above The Want Of This General Blessing; Or That Life, When The Gifts Of Nature And Of Fortune Are Accumulated Upon It, Would Not Still Be Wretched, Were It Not Elevated And Delighted By The Expectation Of Some New Possession, Of Some Enjoyment Yet Behind, By Which The Wish Shall At Last Be Satisfied, And The Heart Filled Up To Its Utmost Extent.

More Is Learned In A Public Than In A Private School, From Emulation. There Is The Collision Of Mind With Mind, Or The Radiation Of Many Minds Pointing To One Center.

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.

It Is A Common Error, And The Greater And More Mischievous For Being So Common, To Believe That Repentance Best Becomes And Most Concerns Dying Men. Indeed, What Is Necessary Every Hour Of Our Life Is Necessary In The Hour Of Death Too, And As Long As One Lives He Will Have Need Of Repentance, And Therefore It Is Necessary In The Hour Of Death Too; But He Who Hath Constantly Exercised Himself In It In His Health And Vigor, Will Do It With Less Pain In His Sickness And Weakness; And He Who Hath Practiced It All His Life, Will Do It With More Ease And Less Perplexity In The Hour Of His Death.

It Is Necessary To The Success Of Flattery, That It Be Accommodated To Particular Circumstances Or Characters, And Enter The Heart On That Side Where The Passions Are Ready To Receive It.

All Severity That Does Not Tend To Increase Good, Or Prevent Evil, Is Idle.

In The Bottle Discontent Seeks For Comfort, Cowardice For Courage, And Bashfulness For Confidence.

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.

Pity Is Not Natural To Man. Children Always Are Cruel. Savages Are Always Cruel.

Few Have Abilities So Much Needed By The Rest Of The World As To Be Caressed On Their Own Terms; And He That Will Not Condescend To Recommend Himself By External Embellishments Must Submit To The Fate Of Just Sentiment Meanly Expressed, And Be Ridiculed And Forgotten Before He Is Understood.

A Mere Literary Man Is A Dull Man; A Man Who Is Solely A Man Of Business Is A Selfish Man; But When Literature And Commerce Are United, They Make A Respectable Man.

The Civilities Of The Great Are Never Thrown Away.

A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing - It Only Hastens Fools To Rush In Where Angels Fear To Tread.

Few Faults Of Style, Whether Real Or Imaginary, Excite The Malignity Of A More Numerous Class Of Readers, Than The Use Of Hard Words.

A Man May Be Very Sincere In Good Principles, Without Having Good Practice.

Religion Informs Us That Misery And Sin Were Produced Together. The Depravation Of Human Will Was Followed By A Disorder Of The Harmony Of Nature; And By That Providence Which Often Places Antidotes In The Neighborhood Of Poisons, Vice Was Checked By Misery, Lest It Should Swell To Universal And Unlimited Dominion.

Few Men Survey Themselves With So Much Severity As Not To Admit Prejudices In Their Own Favor.

John Wesley's Conversation Is Good, But He Is Never At Leisure. He Is Always Obliged To Go At A Certain Hour. This Is Very Disagreeable To A Man Who Loves To Fold His Legs And Have His Talk Out As I Do.

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.

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

But It Is Evident, That These Bursts Of Universal Distress Are More Dreaded Than Felt; Thousands And Ten Thousands Flourish In Youth, And Wither In Age, Without The Knowledge Of Any Other Than Domestic Evils, And Share The Same Pleasures And Vexations, Whether Their Kings Are Mild Or Cruel, Whether The Armies Of Their Country Pursue Their Enemies Or Retreat Before Them.

Human Happiness Has Always Its Abatements; The Brightest Sunshine Of Success Is Not Without A Cloud.

Rash Oaths, Whether Kept Or Broken, Frequently Produce Guilt.

When A Poet Mentions The Spring, We Know That The Zephyrs Are About To Whisper, That The Groves Are To Recover Their Verdure, The Linnets To Warble Forth Their Notes Of Love, And The Flocks And Herds To Frisk Over Vales Painted With Flowers: Yet, Who Is There So Insensible Of The Beauties Of Nature, So Little Delighted With The Renovation Of The World, As Not To Feel His Heart Bound At The Mention Of The Spring?

Our Aspirations Are Our Possibilities.

Language Is Only The Instrument Of Science, And Words Are But The Signs Of Ideas.

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.

I Had Rather See The Portrait Of A Dog That I Know, Than All The Allegorical Paintings They Can Show Me In The World.

The Common People Do Not Accurately Adapt Their Thoughts To Objects; Nor, Secondly, Do They Accurately Adapt Their Words To Their Thoughts; They Do Not Mean To Lie; But, Taking No Pains To Be Exact, They Give You Very False Accounts. A Great Part Of Their Language Is Proverbial; If Anything Rocks At All, They Say It Rocks Like A Cradle; And In This Way They Go On.

Whatever Professes To Benefit By Pleasing Must Please At Once. The Pleasures Of The Mind Imply Something Sudden And Unexpected; That Which Elevates Must Always Surprise.

We Seldom Require More To The Happiness Of The Present Hour Than To Surpass Him That Stands Next Before Us.

He Who Aspires To Be A Serious Wine Drinker Must Drink Claret.

You May Translate Books Of Science Exactly. ... The Beauties Of Poetry Cannot Be Preserved In Any Language Except That In Which It Was Originally Written.

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.

Wretched Un-idea'd Girls.

Getting Money Is Not All A Man's Business: To Cultivate Kindness Is A Valuable Part Of The Business Of Life.

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

Words Are But The Signs Of Ideas.

The Habit Of Looking On The Bright Side Of Every Event Is Worth More Than A Thousand Pounds A Year.

Positive Thinking

To Revenge Reasonable Incredulity By Refusing Evidence, Is A Degree Of Insolence With Which The World Is Not Yet Acquainted; And Stubborn Audacity Is The Last Refuge Of Guilt.

Life, However Short, Is Made Still Shorter By Waste Of Time.

Resentment Is A Union Of Sorrow With Malignity; A Combination Of A Passion Which All Endeavor To Avoid With A Passion Which All Concur To Detest.

No Man Hates Him At Whom He Can Laugh.

They That Have Grown Old In A Single State Are Generally Found To Be Morose, Fretful And Captious; Tenacious Of Their Own Practices And Maxims; Soon Offended By Contradiction Or Negligence; And Impatient Of Any Association But With Those That Will Watch Their Nod, And Submit Themselves To Unlimited Authority.

It Is Very Strange, And Very Melancholy, That The Paucity Of Human Pleasures Should Persuade Us Ever To Call Hunting One Of Them.

Philips, Whose Touch Harmonious Could Remove The Pangs Of Guilty Power And Hapless Love! Rest Here, Distress'd By Poverty No More; Here Find That Calm Thou Gav'st So Oft Before; Sleep Undisturb'd Within This Peaceful Shrine, Till Angels Wake Thee With A Note Like Thine!

When I Find That So Much Of My Life Has Stolen Unprofitably Away, And That I Can Descry By Retrospection Scarcely A Few Single Days Properly And Vigorously Employed, Why Do I Yet Try To Resolve Again? I Try, Because Reformation Is Necessary And Despair Is Criminal. I Try, In Humble Hope Of The Help Of God.

There Are Some Works Which The Authors Must Consign Unpublished To Posterity, However Uncertain Be The Event, However Hopeless Be The Trust. He That Writes The History Of His Own Times, If He Adhere Steadily To Truth, Will Write That Which His Own Times Will Not Easily Endure. He Must Be Content To Reposite His Book Till All Private Passions Shall Cease, And Love And Hatred Give Way To Curiosity.

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.

Dogs Have Not The Power Of Comparing. A Dog Will Take A Small Piece Of Meat As Readily As A Large, When Both Are Before Him.

Men, However Distinguished By External Accidents Or Intrinsick Qualities, Have All The Same Wants, The Same Pains, And, As Far As The Senses Are Consulted, The Same Pleasures.

There Are Three Distinct Kind Of Judges Upon All New Authors Or Productions; The First Are Those Who Know No Rules, But Pronounce Entirely From Their Natural Taste And Feelings; The Second Are Those Who Know And Judge By Rules; And The Third Are Those Who Know, But Are Above The Rules. These Last Are Those You Should Wish To Satisfy. Next To Them Rate The Natural Judges; But Ever Despise Those Opinions That Are Formed By The Rules.

[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.

The Desires Of Man Increase With His Acquisitions.

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.

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.

No Knowledge Is Useless, With The Exception Of Heraldry.

It Is Wonderful When A Calculation Is Made, How Little The Mind Is Actually Employed In The Discharge Of Any Profession.

He That Thinks He Can Afford To Be Negligent Is Not Far From Being Poor.

From Thee, Great God, We Spring, To Thee We Tend,- Path, Motive, Guide, Original, And End.

Year Chases Year, Decay Pursues Decay, Still Drops Some Joy From With'ring Life Away; New Forms Arise, And Diff'rent Views Engage

It Is Scarcely Credible To What Degree Discernment May Be Dazzled By The Mist Of Pride, And Wisdom Infatuated By The Intoxication Of Flattery.

I Fancy Mankind May Come, In Time, To Write All Aphoristically, Except In Narrative; Grow Weary Of Preparation, And Connection, And Illustration, And All Those Arts By Which A Big Book Is Made.

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

You Cannot, By All The Lecturing In The World, Enable A Man To Make A Shoe.

Memory Is The Primary And Fundamental Power, Without Which There Could Be No Other Intellectual Operation.

Nothing Is More Common Than Mutual Dislike, Where Mutual Approbation Is Particularly Expected.

Learn The Leading Precognita Of All Things-no Need To Turn Over Leaf By Leaf, But Grasp The Trunk Hard And You Will Shake All The Branches. Advice Cherished By Samuel Johnson That That, If One Is To Master Any Subject, One Must First Discover Its General Principles.

The Noblest Prospect Which A Scotchman Ever Sees Is The High Road That Leads Him To England.

Suspicion Is Very Often A Useless Pain.

What I Gained By Being In France Was Learning To Be Better Satisfied With My Own Country.

He Who Would Bring Home The Wealth Of The Indies Must Carry The Wealth Of The Indies With Him.

It Is Commonly A Weak Man Who Marries For Love.

Patriotism Is The Last Refuge Of The Scoundrel.

Liberty Is, To The Lowest Rank Of Every Nation, Little More Than The Choice Of Working Or Starving.

Every Quotation Contributes Something To The Stability Or Enlargement Of Language.

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.

Contempt Is A Kind Of Gangrene Which, If It Seizes One Part Of A Character, Corrupts All The Rest By Degrees.

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.

All Intellectual Improvement Arises From Leisure.

In Such A Government As Ours No Man Is Appointed To An Office Because He Is The Fittest For It--nor Hardly In Any Other Government--because There Are So Many Connections And Dependencies To Be Studied.

Books That You May Carry To The Fire, And Hold Readily In Your Hand, Are The Most Useful After All.

The Whole Power Of Cunning Is Privative; To Say Nothing, And To Do Nothing , Is The Utmost Of Its Reach. Yet Men, Thus Narrow By Nature And Mean By Art, Are Sometimes Able To Rise By The Miscarriages Of Bravery And The Openness Of Integrity, And, Watching Failures And Snatching Opportunities, Obtain Advantages Which Belong To Higher Characters.

In Most Ages Many Countries Have Had Part Of Their Inhabitants In A State Of Slavery; Yet It May Be Doubted Whether Slavery Can Ever Be Supposed The Natural Condition Of Man. It Is Impossible Not To Conceive That Men In Their Original State Were Equal; And Very Difficult To Imagine How One Would Be Subjected To Another But By Violent Compulsion. An Individual May, Indeed, Forfeit His Liberty By A Crime; But He Cannot By That Crime Forfeit The Liberty Of His Children.

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.

Marriage Is The Strictest Tie Of Perpetual Friendship, And There Can Be No Friendship Without Confidence, And No Confidence Without Integrity; And He Must Expect To Be Wretched, Who Pays To Beauty, Riches, Or Politeness That Regard Which Only Virtue And Piety Can Claim.

You Never Find People Laboring To Convince You That You May Live Very Happily Upon A Plentiful Income.

The Insolence Of Wealth Will Creep Out.

The World Is Not Yet Exhausted: Let Me See Something Tomorrow Which I Never Saw Before.

Every Man Is Rich Or Poor According To The Proportion Between His Desires And His Enjoyments.

Marriage Is The Best State For Man In General, And Every Man Is A Worst Man In Proportion To The Level He Is Unfit For Marriage.

It Is Incident To Physicians, I Am Afraid, Beyond All Other Men, To Mistake Subsequence For Consequence.

Nothing Has Tended More To Retard The Advancement Of Science Than The Disposition In Vulgar Minds To Vilify What They Cannot Comprehend.

The Morality Of An Action Depends On The Motive From Which We Act. If I Fling Half A Crown To A Beggar With Intention To Break His Head And He Picks It Up And Buy Victuals With It, The Physical Effect Is Good. But With Respect To Me The Action Is Very Wrong.

It May Be Laid Down As A Position Which Seldom Deceives, That When A Man Cannot Bear His Own Company, There Is Something Wrong.

The Violence Of War Admits No Distinction; The Lance, That Is Lifted At Guilt And Power, Will Sometimes Fall On Innocence And Gentleness.

When Any Fit Of Gloominess, Or Perversion Of Mind, Lays Hold Upon You, Make It A Rule Not To Publish It By Complaints, But Exert Your Whole Care To Hide It; By Endeavouring To Hide It; You Will Dry It Away. Be Always Busy.

He That Is Pushing His Predecessors Into The Gulf Of Obscurity, Cannot But Sometimes Suspect, That He Must Himself Sink In Like Manner, And, As He Stands Upon The Same Precipice, Be Swept Away With The Same Violence.

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.

In Sovereignty There Are No Gradations.

Applause Abates Diligence.

Whoever Commits A Fraud Is Guilty Not Only Of The Particular Injury To Him Who He Deceives, But Of The Diminution Of That Confidence Which Constitutes Not Only The Ease But The Existence Of Society.

Let Him Go Abroad To A Distant Country; Let Him Go To Some Place Where He Is Not Known. Don't Let Him Go To The Devil, Where He Is Known.

We Never Do Anything Consciously For The Last Time Without Sadness Of Heart.

The Man Who Feels Himself Ignorant Should, At Least, Be Modest.

Each Person's Work Is Always A Portrait Of Himself.

A Man Is Not Obliged Honestly To Answer A Question Which Should Not Properly Be Put.

Men Who Could Willingly Resign The Luxuries And Sensual Pleasures Of A Large Fortune Cannot Consent To Live Without The Grandeur And The Homage.

I Am Sorry I Have Not Learnt To Play At Cards. It Is Very Useful In Life: It Generates Kindness, And Consolidates Society.

Flattery Pleases Very Generally. In The First Place, The Flatterer May Think What He Says To Be True; But, In The Second Place, Whether He Thinks So Or Not, He Certainly Thinks Those Whom He Flatters Of Consequence Enough To Be Flattered.

Locke, Whom There Is No Reason To Suspect Of Being A Favorer Of Idleness Or Libertinism, Has Advanced That Whoever Hopes To Employ Any Part Of His Time With Efficacy And Vigor Must Allow Some Of It To Pass With Trifles.

Courtesy And Good-humour Are Often Found With Little Real Worth.

Pain And Disease Awaken Us To Convictions Which Are Necessary To Our Moral Condition.

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.

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.

Whatever Withdraws Us From The Power Of Our Senses; Whatever Makes The Past, The Distant, Or The Future, Predominate Over The Present, Advances Us In The Dignity Of Thinking Beings. Far From Me, And Far From My Friends Be Such Frigid Philosophy As May Conduct Us Indifferent And Unmoved Over Any Ground Which Has Been Dignified By Wisdom, Bravery, Or Virtue. That Man Is Little To Be Envied Whose Patriotism Would Not Gain Force Upon The Plain Of Marathon, Or Whose Piety Would Not Grow Warmer Among The Ruins Of Ionia.

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.

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.

Wheresoe'er I Turn My View, All Is Strange, Yet Nothing New: Endless Labor All Along, Endless Labor To Be Wrong: Phrase That Time Has Flung Away; Uncouth Words In Disarray, Trick'd In Antique Ruff And Bonnet, Ode, And Elegy, And Sonnet.

It Is To Be Steadily Inculcated, That Virtue Is The Highest Proof Of Understanding, And The Only Solid Basis Of Greatness.

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.

Spring Is The Season Of Gaiety, And Winter Of Terror; In Spring The Heart Of Tranquility Dances To The Melody Of The Groves, And The Eye Of Benevolence Sparkles At The Sight Of Happiness And Plenty: In Winter, Compassion Melts At Universal Calamity, And The Tear Of Softness Starts At The Wailing Of Hunger And The Cries Of The Creation In Distress

To Do Nothing Is In Everyone's Power.

Criticism Is A Study By Which Men Grow Important And Formidable At Very Small Expense. The Power Of Invention Has Been Conferred By Nature Upon Few, And The Labour Of Learning Those Sciences Which May, By Mere Labour, Be Obtained, Is Too Great To Be Willingly Endured; But Every Man Can Exert Some Judgment As He Has Upon The Works Of Others; And He Whom Nature Has Made Weak, And Idleness Keeps Ignorant, May Yet Support His Vanity By The Name Of Critic.

The Triumph Of Hope Over Experience.

I Am Not So Lost In Lexicography As To Forget That Words Are The Daughters Of Earth, And That Things Are The Sons Of Heaven.

Was Ever Poet So Trusted Before?

How Gloomy Would Be The Mansions Of The Dead To Him Who Did Not Know That He Should Never Die: That What Now Acts Shall Continue Its Agency, And What Now Thinks Shall Think On Forever!

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.

Must Helpless Man, In Ignorance Sedate, Roll Darkly Down The Torrent Of His Fate.

He That Accepts Protection, Stipulates Obedience.

He Endearing Elegance Of Female Friendship.

Ah! Sir, A Boy's Being Flogged Is Not So Severe As A Man's Having The Hiss Of The World Against Him.

Wine Gives Great Pleasure; And Every Pleasure Is Of Itself A Good. It Is A Good, Unless Counterbalanced By Evil.

What Is Written Without Effort Is In General Read Without Pleasure.

No Man But A Blockhead Ever Wrote Except For Money.

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

It Is No Matter What You Teach Them First, Any More Than What Leg You Shall Put Into Your Breeches First. You May Stand Disputing Which Is Best To Put In First, But In The Mean Time Your Breech Is Bare. Sir, While You Are Considering Which Of Two Things You Should Teach Your Child First, Another Boy Has Learned Them Both.

Happiness," Said He, "must Be Something Solid And Permanent, Without Fear And Without Uncertainty.

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.

Attack Is The Reaction. I Never Think I Have Hit Hard Unless It Rebounds.

We Love To Overlook The Boundaries Which We Do Not Wish To Pass.

In General Those Parents Have The Most Reverence Who Most Deserve It; For He That Lives Well Cannot Be Despised.

Paradise Lost Is A Book That, Once Put Down, Is Very Hard To Pick Up Again.

A Man Finds In The Productions Of Nature An Inexhaustible Stock Of Material On Which He Can Employ Himself, Without Any Temptations To Envy Or Malevolence, And Has Always A Certain Prospect Of Discovering New Reasons For Adoring The Sovereign Author Of The Universe.

On Sir Joshua Reynolds's Observing That The Real Character Of A Man Was Found Out By His Amusements. Yes, Sir, No Man Is A Hypocrite In His Pleasures.

By Seeing London, I Have Seen As Much Of Life As The World Can Show.

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