Dr. Johnson's table-talk: aphorisms [&c.] selected and arranged from mr. Boswell's life of Johnson, Volume 11807 |
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Results 1-5 of 21
Page 24
... poor , he has got a love of mean company and low jocularity ; a very bad thing , Sir . To laugh is good , as to talk is good . But you ought no more to think it enough if you laugh , than you are to think it enough if you talk . You may ...
... poor , he has got a love of mean company and low jocularity ; a very bad thing , Sir . To laugh is good , as to talk is good . But you ought no more to think it enough if you laugh , than you are to think it enough if you talk . You may ...
Page 25
... poor talker ; had he held his tongue we might have supposed him to have been restrained by modesty ; but he has spoken a great deal to - day , and you have heard what stuff it was . " Talking of an acquaintance distinguished for knowing ...
... poor talker ; had he held his tongue we might have supposed him to have been restrained by modesty ; but he has spoken a great deal to - day , and you have heard what stuff it was . " Talking of an acquaintance distinguished for knowing ...
Page 35
... Poor stuff ! No , Sir , claret is the liquor for boys ; port for men ; but he who aspires to be a hero ( smiling ) must drink brandy . In the first place , the flavour of brandy is most grateful to the palate ; and then brandy will do ...
... Poor stuff ! No , Sir , claret is the liquor for boys ; port for men ; but he who aspires to be a hero ( smiling ) must drink brandy . In the first place , the flavour of brandy is most grateful to the palate ; and then brandy will do ...
Page 91
... poor . Frugality is not only the basis of quiet , but of beneficence . No man can help others that wants help himself ; we must have enough before we have to spare . " Poverty is a great enemy to human happi- ness ; it certainly ...
... poor . Frugality is not only the basis of quiet , but of beneficence . No man can help others that wants help himself ; we must have enough before we have to spare . " Poverty is a great enemy to human happi- ness ; it certainly ...
Page 102
... poor can find maintenance for themselves , and their labour is wanted , a general undiscerning hospitality tends to ill , by withdrawing them from their work to idleness and drunkenness . Then formerly rents ' were received in kind , so ...
... poor can find maintenance for themselves , and their labour is wanted , a general undiscerning hospitality tends to ill , by withdrawing them from their work to idleness and drunkenness . Then formerly rents ' were received in kind , so ...
Other editions - View all
Dr. Johnson's Table-Talk: Aphorisms [&C.] Selected and Arranged From Mr ... James Boswell,Samuel Johnson No preview available - 2023 |
Dr. Johnson's Table-Talk: Aphorisms [&C.] Selected and Arranged From Mr ... James Boswell,Samuel Johnson No preview available - 2023 |
Dr. Johnson's Table-Talk: Aphorisms [&C. ] Selected and Arranged from Mr ... James Boswell,Samuel Johnson No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
allow argument asked better Boswell character Colley Cibber consider conversation daugh degree Demosthenes dine dinner drinking wine drunk effect Eutropius evil fortune Garrick gentleman give Goldsmith happiness hear House of Commons Hudibras idle instance Johnson observed judge keep labour lady land Langton laugh learning liberty live London Lord Lord Chatham Lord Mansfield Madam magistrate man's mankind marriage marry mentioned merit mind never occasion once opinion Parliament perhaps person pleased pleasure poor pounds praise pretty woman principles produce rank remark respect Scotland shewed Sir Joshua Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir said Johnson society speak spend superiority suppose sure talk tavern teach tell thing thought Thrale tion told Tom Davies truth virtue wall of China Whig wife wise wish worth wrong
Popular passages
Page 174 - There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.
Page 95 - I have often blamed myself, Sir, for not feeling for others, as sensibly as many say they do." JOHNSON. "Sir, don't be duped by them any more. You will find these very feeling people are not very ready to do you good. They pay you by feeling.
Page 35 - Poor stuff! No, Sir, claret is the liquor for boys ; port for men ; but he who aspires to be a hero (smiling) must drink brandy.
Page 93 - Why, sir, if the fellow does not think as he speaks, he is lying : and I see not what honour he can propose to himself from having the character of a liar. But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.
Page 204 - Sir, the only method by which religious truth can be established is by martyrdom. The magistrate has a right to enforce what he thinks, and he who is conscious of the truth has a right to suffer. I am afraid there is no other way of ascertaining the truth but by persecution on the one hand and enduring it on the other.
Page 66 - I hate by-roads in education. Education is as well known, and has long been as well known as ever it can be. Endeavouring to make children prematurely wise is useless labour. Suppose they have more knowledge at five or six years old than other children, what use can be made of it ? It will be lost before it is wanted, and the waste of so much time and labour of the teacher can never be repaid. Too much is expected from precocity, and too little performed. Miss (') was an instance of early cultivation,...
Page 21 - You never open your mouth but with intention to give pain ; and you have often given me pain, not from the power of what you said, but from seeing your intention.
Page 19 - The value of every story depends on its being true. A story is a picture either of an individual or of human nature in general: if it be false, it is a picture of nothing.
Page 123 - Consider, Sir ; celebrated men, such as you have mentioned, have had their applause at a distance ; but Garrick had it dashed in his face, sounded in his ears, and went home every night with, the plaudits of a thousand in his cranium. Then, Sir, Garrick did not find, but made his way to the tables, the levees, and almost the bed-chambers of the great. Then, Sir, Garrick had under him a numerous body of people ; who, from fear of his power, and hopes of his favour, and admiration of his talents, were...
Page 146 - When I was running about this town a very poor fellow, I was a great arguer for the advantages of poverty ; but I was, at the same time, very sorry to be poor. Sir, all the arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no evil, shew it to be evidently a great evil. You never find people labouring to convince you that you may live very happily upon a plentiful fortune. — So you hear people talking how miserable a King must be ; and yet they all wish to be in his place'.