away the confidence one should have in the company of her chair, if she were once out of it.-Mrs. Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 100. Brilliancy in There is nothing by which a man exasperConversation ates most people more, than by displaying a superior ability of brilliancy in conversation. They seem pleased at the time; but their envy makes them curse him at their hearts.-Life. March 30, 1783, Collectanea. Conversation Great lords and great ladies don't like to Interrupted have their mouths stopped.-Life. Boswell's Johnsonian Notes, 1781. A man who is converted from Protestantism Conversion to Popery may be sincere; he parts with nothing he is only superadding to what he already had. But a convert from Popery to Protestantism gives up so much of what he has held as sacred as anything that he retains; there is so much laceration of mind in such a conversion, that it can hardly be sincere and lasting.— Life. October 26, 1769. The coquette has companions, indeed, but The Coquette no lovers; for love is respectful, and timorous; and where among all her followers will she find a husband?-The Rambler, No. 97. The purpose for which letters are written Correspondence when no intelligence is communicated, or business transacted, is to preserve in the minds of the absent either love or esteem.-Rambler, No. 152. Influence of Great events can be hastened or retarded in Council only by persons of elevated dignity.-Lives of Cowardice encroaches fast upon such as Cowardice spend their lives in the company of persons higher than themselves.-Rambler. Courage Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.-Life, June 11, 1784. The eye of a respectful lover loves rather Coyness to receive confidence from the withdrawn eye of the fair one, than to find itself obliged to retreat.Rambler, No. 97. Bribing a - He that once owes more than he can pay, Creditor is often obliged to bribe his creditor to patience, by increasing his debt. Idler, No. 22. Credit Taking and Giving Credit The motive to credit is the hope of advantage. Idler, No. 22. We have now learned that rashness and imprudence will not be deterred from taking credit; let us try whether fraud and avarice may be more easily restrained from giving it.-Idler, No. 22. Confined Criminals I do not see that they are punished by this : they must have worked equally, had they never been guilty of stealing. They now only work; so, after all, they have gained; what they stole is clear gain to them; the confinement is nothing. Every man who works is confined: the smith to his shop, the tailor to his garret.-Life. April 10, 1778. The power of invention has been conferred Critic by nature upon few, and the labour of learning is too great to be willingly endured; but every man can exert such judgment as he has, upon the works of others; and he whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity, by the name of a critic.-Idler, No. 60. Critics and Never let criticism operate upon your face Authors or your mind; it is very rarely that an author is hurt by his critics.-Letter to Mrs. Thrale, No. 230. False Critics Criticism False critics have been the plague of all ages.-Lives of the Poets. Philips. The duty of Criticism is neither to depreciate, nor dignify by partial representations; but to hold out the light of reason, whatever it may discover; and to promulgate the determinations of truth, whatever she shall dictate.-Rambler, No. 93. No one ought to remind another of misforCroaking tunes of which the sufferer does not complain, and which there are no means proposed of alleviating. You have no right to excite thoughts which necessarily give pain whenever they return, and which perhaps might not have revived, but by absurd and unseasonable compassion.-Rambler, No. 75. Tale of Cruelty Crusades Ancient Culture Cunning Scarce anything awakes attention like a tale of cruelty.-Idler, No. 30. The great business of the middle centuries was the holy wars.-Adventurer, No. 99. Greece appears to be the fountain of knowledge; Rome of elegance.-Life. Cunning has effect from the credulity of others, rather than from the abilities of those who are cunning. It requires no extraordinary talents to lie and deceive.-Journal. Cunning Cupidus not ing. —Life. Curiosity No. 150. Curiosity Curiosity Cunning differs from wisdom as twilight from open day.-Idler, No. 92. Every man is born cupidus,—desirous of getting; but not avarus,—desirous of keep Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.—Rambler, Curiosity, like all other desires, produces pain as well as pleasure.-Rambler, No. 161. Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.Rambler, No. 103. Ancient Cus Their origin is commonly unknown; for toms the practice often continues when the cause has ceased, and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is in vain to conjecture; for what reason did not dictate reason cannot explain.-Rasselas. Reverence of We profess to reverence the dead, not for their sake, but for our own. - Essay on the Dead Epitaphs. Death increases our veneration for the Death good, and extenuates our hatred of the bad. -Rambler, No. 54. When a friend is carried to his grave we at Death once find excuses for every weakness and palliations of every fault.-Rambler, No. 54. 203. Death Death It seems to be the fate of man to seek all his consolations in futurity.-Rambler, No. Death, though often desired in the field, seldom fails to terrify when it approaches the bed of sickness in its natural horror.-Rambler, No. 202. Death It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.-Life. October 26, 1769. |