The works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 41824 |
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Page 5
... talk thus gravely for nothing . No man is required to betray his own secrets . I will , however , confess , that I have now been a writer almost a week , and have not yet heard a single word of praise , nor received one hint from any ...
... talk thus gravely for nothing . No man is required to betray his own secrets . I will , however , confess , that I have now been a writer almost a week , and have not yet heard a single word of praise , nor received one hint from any ...
Page 24
... talk of men must relate to facts in which the talkers have , or think they have , an interest ; and , where such facts cannot be known , the pleasures of society will be merely sensual . Thus the natives of the Mahometan empires , who ...
... talk of men must relate to facts in which the talkers have , or think they have , an interest ; and , where such facts cannot be known , the pleasures of society will be merely sensual . Thus the natives of the Mahometan empires , who ...
Page 32
... talk to you upon subjects of this delicate nature ? you who seem ignorant of the inexpressible charms of the elbow - chair , attended with a soft stool for the elevation of the feet ! Thus , vacant of thought , do I indulge the livelong ...
... talk to you upon subjects of this delicate nature ? you who seem ignorant of the inexpressible charms of the elbow - chair , attended with a soft stool for the elevation of the feet ! Thus , vacant of thought , do I indulge the livelong ...
Page 35
... talk on subjects which nature did not form him able to comprehend . The Cartesian , who denies that his horse feels the spur , or that the hare is afraid when the hounds approach her ; the disciple of Mal- branche , No. 10 . 35 THE ...
... talk on subjects which nature did not form him able to comprehend . The Cartesian , who denies that his horse feels the spur , or that the hare is afraid when the hounds approach her ; the disciple of Mal- branche , No. 10 . 35 THE ...
Page 39
... talk is of the weather ; they are in haste to tell each other , what each must already know , that it is hot or cold , bright or cloudy , windy or calm . There are , among the numerous lovers of subtilties and paradoxes , some who ...
... talk is of the weather ; they are in haste to tell each other , what each must already know , that it is hot or cold , bright or cloudy , windy or calm . There are , among the numerous lovers of subtilties and paradoxes , some who ...
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance amusement art of memory Bassora beauty business for pleasure censure common commonly considered critick curiosity custom delight desire diligence discovered Ditto dread Drugget easily easy elegance endeavour English equal evil expected eyes favour folly fortune friends genius give gout gratified hand happiness honour hope hour Hudibras human idleness Idler imagination Imlac inquiry knowledge labour lady learned less live look lost Louisbourg mankind marriage ment mind misery mistress Mohair morning nation nature neral ness never Newmarket night NUMB observed once opinion pain passed passions Peterhouse pleased pleasure portunities praise prince produce publick racters Rasselas reason resolved rience rieties SATURDAY scarcely seldom sleep sometimes stancy suffered supposed sure talk tell tence thing Thomas Warton thought tion told trained bands truth useless virtue weary wife wish wonder write
Popular passages
Page 405 - By what means," said the prince, "are the Europeans thus powerful ? or why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade or conquest, cannot the Asiatics and Africans invade their coasts, plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural princes? The same wind that carries them back would bring us thither.
Page 495 - He who has nothing external that can divert him, must find pleasure in his own thoughts, and must conceive himself what he is not ; for who is pleased with what he is ? He then expatiates in boundless futurity, and culls from all imaginable conditions that which for the present moment he should most desire, amuses his desires with impossible enjoyments, and confers upon his pride unattainable dominion. The mind dances from scene to scene, unites all pleasures in all combinations, and riots in delights,...
Page 374 - The sides of the mountains were covered with trees; the banks of the brooks were diversified with flowers; every blast shook spices from the rocks and every month dropped fruits upon the ground.
Page 360 - it is of little use to form plans of life. When I took my first survey of the world, in my twentieth year, having considered the various conditions of mankind, in the hour of solitude, I said thus to myself, leaning against a cedar, which spread its branches over my head : ' Seventy years are allowed to man ; I have yet fifty remaining.
Page 402 - I soon found that no man was ever great by imitation. My desire of excellence impelled me to transfer my attention to nature and to life. Nature was to be my subject, and men to be my auditors: I could never describe what I had not seen : I could not hope to move those with delight or terror whose interests and opinions I did not understand.
Page 295 - The Italian, attends only to the invariable, the great and general ; ideas which are fixed and inherent in universal nature; the Dutch, on the contrary, to literal truth and a minute exactness in the detail, as I may say, of nature modified by accident. The attention to these petty peculiarities is the very cause of this naturalness so much admired in the Dutch pictures, which, if we suppose it to be a beauty, is certainly...
Page 373 - YE WHO listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope, who expect that age will perform the promises of youth and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow, attend to the history of Rasselas,1 prince of Abyssinia.
Page 452 - I cannot forbear to flatter myself, that prudence and benevolence will make marriage happy. The general folly of mankind is the cause of general complaint. What can be expected but disappointment and repentance from a choice made in the immaturity of youth, in the ardour of desire, without judgment, without foresight, without inquiry after conformity of opinions, similarity of manners, rectitude of judgment, or purity of sentiment ? " Such is the common process of marriage.
Page 463 - A king, whose power is unlimited and whose treasures surmount all real and imaginary wants, is compelled to solace, by the erection of a pyramid, the satiety of dominion and tastelessness of pleasures, and to amuse the tediousness of declining life, by seeing thousands labouring without end, and one stone, for no purpose, laid upon another. Whoever thou art, that, not content with a moderate condition, imaginest happiness in royal magnificence, and dreamest that command or riches can feed the appetite...
Page 388 - So replied the mechanist, fishes have the water, in which yet beasts can swim by nature, and men by art. He that can swim needs not despair to fly: to swim is to fly in a grosser fluid, and to fly is to swim in a subtler. We are only to proportion our power of resistance to the different density of matter through which we are to pass.