The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

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G. Walker ... [and 9 others], 1820 - English literature

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Page 419 - To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.
Page 51 - Evil into the mind of God or man May come and go, so unapproved, and leave No spot or blame behind...
Page 404 - Here the heart softens, and vigilance subsides; we are then willing to inquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at least, turn our eyes upon the gardens of pleasure; we approach them with scruple...
Page 404 - Obidah then related the occurrences of his journey, without any concealment or palliation. "Son," said the hermit, "let the errors and follies, the dangers and escape of this day, sink deep into thy heart. Remember, my son, that human life is the journey of a day. We rise in the morning of youth, full of vigour, and full of expectation ; we set forward with spirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a while in the direct road of piety towards the mansions of rest.
Page 40 - THE love of RETIREMENT has, in all ages, adhered closely to those minds, which have been most enlarged by knowledge, or elevated by genius. Those who enjoyed every thing generally supposed to confer happiness, have been forced to seek it in the shades of privacy.
Page 23 - But when an adventurer is levelled with the rest of the world, and acts in such scenes of the universal drama, as may be the lot of any other man ; young spectators fix their eyes upon him with closer attention, and hope, by observing his behaviour and No. 4. THE RAMBLER. 23 success, to regulate their own practices, when they shall be engaged in the like part.
Page 401 - He did not, however, forget whither he was travelling, but found a narrow way bordered with flowers, which appeared to have the same direction with the main road, and was pleased that, by this happy experiment, he had found means to unite pleasure with business, and to gain the rewards of diligence without suffering its fatigues.
Page 26 - The Roman tyrant was content to be hated, if he was but feared; and there are thousands of the readers of romances willing to be thought wicked, if they may be allowed to be wits. It is therefore to be steadily inculcated, that virtue is the highest proof of understanding, and the only solid basis of greatness; and that vice is the natural consequence of narrow thoughts, that it begins in mistake, and ends in ignominy.
Page 40 - Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast With silent confidence and holy rest : From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend, Path, motive, guide, original, and end.
Page 403 - Thus, forlorn and distressed, he wandered through the wild, without knowing whither he was going, or whether he was every moment drawing nearer to safety or to destruction. At length, not fear, but labour, began to overcome him ; his breath grew short, and his knees trembled, and he was on the point of lying down, in resignation to his fate, when he beheld, through the brambles, the glimmer of a taper. "He advanced towards the light, and, finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he...

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