The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.

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G. Walker ... [and 9 others], 1820 - English literature

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Page 386 - If the biographer writes from personal knowledge, and makes haste to gratify the publick curiosity, there is danger lest his interest, his fear, his gratitude, or his tenderness, overpower his fidelity, and tempt him to conceal, if not to invent. There are many who think it an act of piety to hide the faults or failings of their friends, even when they can no longer suffer by their detection ; we therefore see whole ranks of characters adorned with uniform panegyrick, and not to be known from one...
Page 416 - let the errors and follies, the dangers and escape of this day, sink deep into thy heart. Remember, my son, that human life is the journey of a day. We rise in the morning of youth, full of vigour, and full of expectation ; we set forward with spirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a while in the direct road of piety towards the mansions of rest.
Page 51 - Evil into the mind of God or man May come and go, so unapproved, and leave No spot or blame behind...
Page 431 - To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.
Page 416 - Here the heart softens, and vigilance subsides; we are then willing to inquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at least, turn our eyes upon the gardens of pleasure; we approach them with scruple...
Page 20 - ITHE works of fiction, with which the present generation seems more particularly delighted, are such as exhibit life in its true state, diversified only by accidents that daily happen in the world, and influenced by passions and qualities which are really to be found in conversing with mankind.
Page 40 - O THOU whose power o'er moving worlds presides, Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides, On darkling man in pure effulgence shine, And cheer the clouded mind with light divine. 'Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast, With silent confidence and holy rest; From thee, great God! we spring, to thee we tend, Path, motive, guide, original, and end!
Page 23 - But when an adventurer is levelled with the rest of the world, and acts in such scenes of the universal drama, as may be the lot of any other man ; young spectators fix their eyes upon him with closer attention, and hope, by observing his behaviour and I success, to regulate their own practices, when they shall be engaged in the like part.
Page 26 - I cannot discover why there should not be exhibited the most perfect idea of virtue ; of virtue not angelical, nor above probability, for what we cannot credit, we shall never imitate, but the highest and purest that humanity can reach...
Page 24 - It is therefore not a sufficient vindication of a character, that it is drawn as it appears, for many characters ought never to be drawn; nor of a narrative, that the train of events is agreeable to observation ° and experience, for that observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

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