Quotes from work
The Rambler

Samuel Johnson

The Rambler was a periodical by Samuel Johnson.

“Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 163 (8 October 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)
Context: Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments; any enlargement of wishes is therefore equally destructive to happiness with the diminution of possession, and he that teaches another to long for what he never shall obtain is no less an enemy to his quiet than if he had robbed him of part of his patrimony.

“No weakness of the human mind has more frequently incurred animadversion, than the negligence with which men overlook their own faults, however flagrant, and the easiness with which they pardon them, however frequently repeated.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

Source: The Rambler

“In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 96 (16 February 1751)
Source: The Rambler (1750–1752)

“Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 2 (24 March 1750) http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Joh1Ram.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=2&division=div1
Source: The Rambler (1750–1752)

“Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 135 (2 July 1751)
Source: The Rambler (1750–1752)

“Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 103 (12 March 1751)
Variant: Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.
Source: The Rambler (1750–1752)

“That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 148 (17 August 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“Avarice is generally the last passion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 151 (27 August 1751). http://books.google.com/books?id=VvhDAAAAYAAJ&q=%22avarice+is+generally+the+last+passion+of+those+lives+of+which+the+first+part+has+been+squandered+in+pleasure+and+the+second+devoted+to+ambition%22&pg=PA262#v=onepage
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“As it is necessary not to invite robbery by supineness, so it is our duty not to suppress tenderness by suspicion; it is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 79 (18 December 1750)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 86 (12 January 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 148 (17 August 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“A transition from an author's book to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour, grandeur and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 14 (5 May 1750) http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Joh1Ram.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=14&division=div1
The Rambler (1750–1752)