Quotes from work
The Rambler

The Rambler

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 <br class="br">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 <br class="br">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 <br class="br">The Rambler (1750–1752)

“The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

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

“Frugality may be termed the daughter of Prudence, the sister of Temperance and the parent of Liberty.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 57 (2 October 1750)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 106 (23 March 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 50 (8 September 1750); often misattributed to Joseph Addison
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“But, perhaps, the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in few words.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 175 (19 November 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“No man is much pleased with a companion, who does not increase, in some respect, his fondness for himself.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 104 (16 March 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“To convince any man against his will is hard, but to please him against his will is justly pronounced by Dryden to be above the reach of human abilities.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 93
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“The student who would build his knowledge on solid foundations, and proceed by just degrees to the pinnacles of truth, is directed by the great philosopher of France to begin by doubting of his own existence. In like manner, whoever would complete any arduous and intricate enterprise, should, as soon as his imagination can cool after the first blaze of hope, place before his own eyes every possible embarrassment that may retard or defeat him. He should first question the probability of success, and then endeavour to remove the objections that he has raised.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 43 (14 August 1750)
The Rambler (1750–1752)

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