The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius, Volume 7Luke Hansard & Sons, 1810 |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 51
Page 5
... truths which every human being acknowledges and forgets . It is generally known , that he who expects much will be often disappointed ; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation , or has any other effect than ' that of producing ...
... truths which every human being acknowledges and forgets . It is generally known , that he who expects much will be often disappointed ; yet disappointment seldom cures us of expectation , or has any other effect than ' that of producing ...
Page 10
... truth brought newly to light , impoverishes the mine , from which succeeding intellects are to dig their treasures . Many philosophers imagine , that the elements themselves may be in time exhausted ; that the sun , by shining long ...
... truth brought newly to light , impoverishes the mine , from which succeeding intellects are to dig their treasures . Many philosophers imagine , that the elements themselves may be in time exhausted ; that the sun , by shining long ...
Page 37
... truth and falsehood are inextricably complicated , or undertakes to 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 ...
... truth and falsehood are inextricably complicated , or undertakes to 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 ...
Page 38
... truth , but for appearances which they were not able to distin- guish from it . But the man who engages in a party has seldom to do with any thing remote or abstruse . The present state of things is before his eyes ; and , if he cannot ...
... truth , but for appearances which they were not able to distin- guish from it . But the man who engages in a party has seldom to do with any thing remote or abstruse . The present state of things is before his eyes ; and , if he cannot ...
Page 41
... truth . Forms of government are seldom the result of much deliberation ; they are framed by chance in popular assemblies , or in conquered countries by despotick authority . Laws are often occasional , often capri- cious , made always ...
... truth . Forms of government are seldom the result of much deliberation ; they are framed by chance in popular assemblies , or in conquered countries by despotick authority . Laws are often occasional , often capri- cious , made always ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acquaintance admired amusement art of memory authors Bassora beauty censure common commonly considered critick curiosity custom danger delight desire dili diligence Ditto domestick dreaded Drugget easily easy elegance endeavour English equal evil expected eyes favour fortune friends genius give gout gratified hand happiness honour hope hour Hudibras human idleness Idler Iliad imagination impa innu inquiry king of Norway knowledge labour lady Lapland learned less live look lost Louisbourg Luke Hansard mankind marriage ment mind misery mistress morning nation nature necessary ness never Newmarket night NUMB observed once opinion pain passed passions perhaps Peterhouse pleased pleasure portunities praise produce publick readers reason resolved rich rience SATURDAY seldom sometimes soon Sophron suffered superiour supposed sure talk tell thing thought tion told truth uncon virtue weary wife wish wonder writers
Popular passages
Page 329 - I was led into the subject of this letter by endeavouring to fix the original cause of this conduct of the Italian masters. If it can be proved that by this choice they selected the...
Page 319 - There may perhaps be too great an indulgence, as well as too great a restraint of imagination; and if the one produces incoherent monsters, the other produces what is full as bad, lifeless insipidity. An intimate knowledge of the passions, and good sense, but not common sense, must at last determine its limits. It has been thought, and...
Page 118 - But this censure will be mitigated when it is seriously considered that money and time are the heaviest burdens of life, and that the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.
Page 306 - ... middle to have been on higher ground, or the figures at the extremities stooping or lying, which would not only have formed the group into the shape of a pyramid, but likewise contrasted the standing figures. Indeed...
Page 402 - ... passed, will store my mind with images, which I shall be busy, through the rest of my life, in combining and comparing. I shall revel in inexhaustible accumulations of intellectual riches ; I shall find new pleasures for every moment, and shall never more be weary of myself.
Page 44 - This distinction of seasons is produced only by imagination operating on luxury. To temperance, every day is bright ; and every hour is propitious to diligence. He that shall resolutely excite his faculties, or exert his virtues, will soon make himself superiour to the seasons ; and may set at defiance the morning mist and the evening damp, the blasts of the east, and the clouds of the south.
Page 280 - That some of them have been adopted by him unnecessarily, may perhaps be allowed ; but in general they are evidently an advantage, for without them his stately ideas would be confined and cramped. "He that thinks with more extent than another, will want words of larger meaning.
Page 174 - The traveller visits in age those countries through which he rambled in his youth, and hopes for merriment at the old place. The man of business, wearied with unsatisfactory prosperity, retires to the town of his nativity, and expects to play away the last years with the companions of his childhood, and recover youth in the fields where he once was young.
Page 252 - June 30, 1/59HPHE natural progress of the works of men is from rudeness to convenience, from convenience to elegance, and from elegance to nicety.
Page 143 - ... and it can seldom happen but he that understands himself, might convey his notions to another, if, content to be understood, he did not seek to be admired; but when once he begins to contrive how his sentiments may be received, not with most ease to his reader, but with most advantage to himself, he then transfers his consideration from words to sounds, from sentences to periods, and, as he grows more elegant, becomes less intelligible.