When we desire or solicit anything, our minds run wholly on the good
side or circumstances of it; when it is obtained, our minds run wholly
on the bad ones.
The latter part of a wise man’s life is taken up in curing the
follies, prejudices, and false opinions he had contracted in the former.
Would a writer know how to behave himself with relation to posterity,
let him consider in old books what he finds that he is glad to know,
and what omissions he most laments.
One argument to prove that the common relations of ghosts and spectres
are generally false, may be drawn from the opinion held that spirits
are never seen by more than one person at a time; that is to say, it
seldom happens to above one person in a company to be possessed with
any high degree of spleen or melancholy.
It is pleasant to observe how free the present age is in laying taxes
on the next: “Future ages shall talk of this;” “This shall be famous to
all posterity:” whereas their time and thoughts will be taken up about
present things, as ours are now.
I never heard a finer piece of satire against lawyers than that of
astrologers, when they pretend by rules of art to tell when a suit will
end, and whether to the advantage of the plaintiff or defendant; thus
making the matter depend entirely upon the influence of the stars,
without the least regard to the merits of the cause.
I have known some men possessed of good qualities, which were very
serviceable to others but useless to themselves: like a sun-dial on the
front of a house, to inform the neighbors and passengers, but not the
owner within.
If a man would register all his opinions upon love, politics, religion,
learning, etc., beginning from his youth, and so go on to old age, what
a bundle of inconsistencies and contradictions would appear at last!
The stoical scheme of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires,
is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.
The reason why so few marriages are happy is, because young ladies
spend their time in making nets, not in making cages.
The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable, for the happy
impute all their success to prudence or merit. Complaint is the largest
tribute heaven receives, and the sincerest part of our devotion.
The common fluency of speech in many men, and most women, is owing to
a scarcity of matter, and a scarcity of words: for whoever is a master
of language, and hath a mind full of ideas, will be apt in speaking to
hesitate upon the choice of both; whereas common speakers have only one
set of ideas, and one set of words to clothe them in; and these are
always ready at the mouth: so people come faster out of church when it
is almost empty than when a crowd is at the door.
* * * * *
JOHNSON’S OPINION OF HIS ROUGHNESS.—While we were upon the road, I had
the resolution to ask Johnson whether he thought that the roughness
of his manner had been an advantage or not, and if he would not have
done more good if he had been more gentle. I proceeded to answer
myself thus: “Perhaps it has been of advantage, as it has given
weight to what you said: you could not, perhaps, have talked with
such authority without it.” _Johnson_: “No, sir; I have done more
good as I am. Obscenity and impiety have always been repressed in my
company.” _Boswell_: “True, sir; and that is more than can be said of
every bishop. Greater liberties have been taken in the presence of a
bishop, though a very good man, from his being milder, and therefore
not commanding such awe. Yet, sir, many people who might have been
benefited by your conversation have been frightened away. A worthy
friend of ours has told me that he has often been afraid to talk
to you.” _Johnson_: “Sir, he need not have been afraid, if he had
anything rational to say. If he had not, it was better he did not
talk.”—_Boswell._