A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good. Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. ii. Chap. vi. 1763. Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an access of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature. Chap. ix. Sir, a woman preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all. Ibid. I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.1 Ibid. This was a good dinner enough, to be sure, but it was not a dinner to ask a man to. Ibid. Ibid. 1764. I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject. Vol. iii. Chap. ii. 1769. It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. Chap. iv. That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.2 Chap. v. 1770. I am a great friend to public amusements; for they keep people from vice. Chap. viii. 1772. Ibid. A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden. Much may be made of a Scotchman if he be caught young. Ibid. A man may write at any time if he will set himself doggedly to it. Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773. 1 Every investigation which is guided by principles of nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach. -ATHENEUS: Book vii. chap. ii. 2 Mr. Kremlin was distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong. — DISRAELI: Sybil, book iv. chap. 5. Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. the devil, where he is known. Don't let him go to Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. iv. Chap. u. 1773. Was ever poet so trusted before? Vol. v. Chap. vi. 1774. Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds. 1775. A man will turn over half a library to make one book. Chap. viii. 1775. Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. Hell is paved with good intentions.1 Chap. ix. Ibid. Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.2 Ibid. I never take a nap after dinner but when I have had a bad night; and then the nap takes me. Vol. vi. Chap. 1. 1775. In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath. Ibid. There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly, but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other. - Ibid. There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.8 Chap. iii. 1776. 1 See Herbert, page 205. Do not be troubled by Saint Bernard's saying that hell is full of good intentions and wills. - FRANCIS DE SALES: Spiritual Letters. Letter xii. (Translated by the author of " A Dominican Artist.") 1605. 2 Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est (To know where you can find anything, that in short is the largest part of learning). ANONYMOUS. 3 Whoe'er has travell'd life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome at an inn. SHENSTONE: Written on a Window of an Inn. No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vi. Chap. iii. 1776. Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen. Chap. iv. 1776. A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him. Ibid. All this [wealth] excludes but one evil, poverty. Chap. ix. 1777. Employment, sir, and hardships prevent melancholy. Ibid. When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. Ibid. Ibid. He was so generally civil that nobody thanked him for it. Goldsmith, however, was a man who whatever he wrote, did it better than any other man could do. Vol. vii. Chap. iii. 1778. Johnson had said that he could repeat a complete chapter of "The Natural History of Iceland," from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly (Ch. lxxii. Concerning snakes) thus: "There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island." 1 Chap. iv. 1778. As the Spanish proverb says, "He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him," so it is in travelling, a man must carry knowledge with him if he would bring home knowledge. Chap. v. 1778. The true, strong, and sound mind is the mind that can embrace equally great things and small. Chap. vi. 1778. I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing." 1 Chapter xlii. is still shorter: "There are no owls of any kind in the whole island." There was another fine passage too which he struck out: "When I was a young man, being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. But I soon gave this over; for I found that generally what was new was false." Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. vii. Chap. viii. 1779 Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. Ibid. A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say. Chap. z. Of Dr. Goldsmith he said, "No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had." Ibid. The applause of a single human being is of great consequence. Ibid. The potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.1 Vol. viii. Chap. ii. Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world. Chap. iii. 1781. My friend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in that character [as an author], he deserved to have his merits handsomely allowed.2 Ibid. I never have sought the world; the world was not to seek me. Chap. v. 1783. He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others. Ibid. 1784. 1 I am rich beyond the dreams of avarice. - EDWARD MOORE: The Gamester, act ii. sc. 2. 1753. 2 Usually quoted as "When a nobleman writes a book, he ought to be encouraged." 3 I have not loved the world, nor the world me. - BYRON: Childe Harold, canto iii. stanza 113. 1 See Shakespeare, page 88. You see they'd have fitted him to a T. Life of Johnson (Boswell). Vol. viii. Chap. ix. 1784. I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding. Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat.1 Blown about with every wind of criticism." If the man who turnips cries Ibid. Ibid. Chap. x. 1784. Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 30. 39. The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public. 58. The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are. 154. Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true. 178. Books that you may carry to the fire and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all. Hawkins. 197. Round numbers are always false. As with my hat3 upon my head I walk'd along the Strand, 235. George Steerens. 310. Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult. Hannah More. 467. The limbs will quiver and move after the soul is gone. Northcote. 487. 1 A parody on "Who rules o'er freemen should himself be free," from Brooke's "Gustavus Vasa," first edition. 2 Carried about with every wind of doctrine. - Ephesians iv. 14. 8 Elsewhere found, "I put my hat." 4 A parody on Percy's "Hermit of Warkworth." |
