“No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
April 5, 1776, p. 302
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
“The vanity of teaching often tempteth a Man to forget he is a Blockhead.”
Political, Moral, and Miscellaneous Reflections (1750), Moral Thoughts and Reflections
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Do you have more details about the quote "The vanity of teaching often tempteth a Man to forget he is a Blockhead." by George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax?
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax65
English politician 1633–1695Related quotes
Fernando Pessoa book The Book of Disquiet
Ibid., p. 88
The Book of Disquiet
Original: Cada um tem a sua vaidade, e a vaidade de cada um é o seu esquecimento de que há outros com alma igual.
Daniel J. Siegel (1957) American psychiatrist
Source: The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child's Developing Mind, Survive Everyday Parenting Struggles, and Help Your Family Thrive
“It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us.”
Jane Austen book Pride and Prejudice
Source: Pride and Prejudice
“Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet.”
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer
Paul Erdős (1913–1996) Hungarian mathematician and freelancer
Though Erdős used this remark, it is said to have originated with his friend Stanisław Ulam, as reported in The Man Who Loved Only Numbers : The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth (1998) by Paul Hoffman
Variants:
The first sign of senility is when a man forgets his theorems. The second sign is when he forgets to zip up. The third sign is when he forgets to zip down.
As quoted in Wonders of Numbers : Adventures in Mathematics, Mind, and Meaning (2002) by Clifford A. Pickover, p. 64
There are three signs of senility. The first sign is that a man forgets his theorems. The second sign is that he forgets to zip up. The third sign is that he forgets to zip down.
Misattributed
Stanislaw Ulam (1909–1984) Polish-American mathematician
Attributed in Paul Hoffman, The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth (1998)
This has also been attributed, with variants, to Paul Erdős, who repeated the remark.
Arthur Machen (1863–1947) Welsh author and mystic
"The Children of the Pool", in The Children of the Pool and Other Stories (New York: Arno Press, [1936] 1976) p. 83.
Mignon McLaughlin (1913–1983) American journalist
The Complete Neurotic's Notebook (1981), Women & men
