Maxioms by Samuel Johnson
Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once, and now I know it
Life is a jest, and all things show it, I thought so once, and now I know it
Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we
cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: he that reads books read more
Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we
cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: he that reads books of
science, though without any desire fixed of improvement, will
grow more knowing; he that entertains himself with moral or
religious treatises, will imperceptibly advance in goodness; the
ideas which are often offered to the mind, will at last find a
lucky moment when it is disposed to receive them.
He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.
He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.
I am glad that he thanks God for anything.
I am glad that he thanks God for anything.
Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 It is by affliction chiefly read more
Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 It is by affliction chiefly that the heart of man is purified, and that the thoughts are fixed on a better state. Prosperity has power to intoxicate the imagination, to fix the mind upon the present scene, to produce confidence and elation, and to make him who enjoys affluence and honors forget the hand by which they were bestowed. It is seldom that we are otherwise than by affliction awakened to a sense of our imbecility, or taught to know how little all our acquisitions can conduce to safety or quiet, and how justly we may inscribe to the superintendence of a higher power those blessings which in the wantonness of success we considered as the attainments of our policy and courage.
