The Rambler, by S. Johnson, Volume 11806 |
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Page 3
... mankind xua Es dei , an estate for ever , it was an additional favour to inform them of its value . It may , indeed , be no less dangerous to claim , on certain occasions , too little than too much . There is something captivating in ...
... mankind xua Es dei , an estate for ever , it was an additional favour to inform them of its value . It may , indeed , be no less dangerous to claim , on certain occasions , too little than too much . There is something captivating in ...
Page 19
... mankind . This kind of writing may be termed not impro- perly the comedy of romance , and is to be con- ducted nearly by the rules of comick poetry . Its province is to bring about natural events by easy means , and to keep up curiosity ...
... mankind . This kind of writing may be termed not impro- perly the comedy of romance , and is to be con- ducted nearly by the rules of comick poetry . Its province is to bring about natural events by easy means , and to keep up curiosity ...
Page 22
... mankind those individuals upon which the attention ought most to be em- ployed ; as a diamond , though it cannot be made , may be polished by art , and placed in such a situa tion , as to display that lustre which before was 22 N ° 4 ...
... mankind those individuals upon which the attention ought most to be em- ployed ; as a diamond , though it cannot be made , may be polished by art , and placed in such a situa tion , as to display that lustre which before was 22 N ° 4 ...
Page 23
... mankind as upon a mirrour which shews all that presents itself without discrimination . 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 ...
... mankind as upon a mirrour which shews all that presents itself without discrimination . 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 ...
Page 25
... mankind , that positions of this tendency should be laid open and confuted ; for while men consider good and evil as springing from the same root , they will spare the one for the sake of the other ; and in judging , if not of others at ...
... mankind , that positions of this tendency should be laid open and confuted ; for while men consider good and evil as springing from the same root , they will spare the one for the sake of the other ; and in judging , if not of others at ...
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance amusements appear beauty calamity cause caution censure challenge of honours common considered contempt danger daugh delight desire discover easily ELPHINSTON endeavour enjoy envy Epictetus equally error evil exer eyes fame faults favour fear felicity flattery folly force fortune frequently friends future gain genius give happen happiness heart hinder honour hope hope and fear human imagination indulge Jupiter kind knowledge labour lady learning lenitives less lest lives mankind MARCH 20 marriage means ment mind miscarriage misery nature necessary ness never objects observed once opinion ourselves OVID pain passion pastoral Penthesilea perhaps Periander perpetual persuaded pleasing pleasure portunities praise precepts Prudentius quire RAMBLER reason recreare regard remember reproach reputation SATURDAY seldom sentiments shew shewn soon sophism stone of Sisyphus suffer things thought tion TUESDAY vanity virtue wish write
Popular passages
Page 255 - Happy the man - and happy he alone He who can call today his own, He who, secure within, can say 'Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have...
Page 266 - If a man was to compare the effect of a single stroke of a pickaxi or of one impression of the spade, with the general design and last result, he would be overwhelmed by the sense of their disproportion ; yet those petty operations, incessantly continued, in time surmount the greatest difficulties, and mountains are levelled, and oceans bounded, by the slender force of human beings.
Page 33 - 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 18 - If the world be promiscuously described, I cannot see of what use it can be to read the account; or why it may not be as safe to turn the eye immediately upon mankind, as upon a mirror which shows all that presents itself without discrimination.
Page 255 - There is certainly no greater happiness than to be able to look back on a life usefully and virtuously employed, to trace our own progress in existence, by such tokens as excite neither shame nor sorrow.
Page 18 - ... it, to initiate youth by mock encounters in the art of necessary defence, and to increase prudence without impairing virtue.
Page 33 - ... he who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing any thing but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove*.
Page 272 - ... to the beneficent Author of it ? Thus to enjoy the blessings he has sent, is virtue and obedience ; and to reject them merely as means of pleasure, is pitiable ignorance, or absurd perverseness. Infinite goodness is the source of created existence ; the proper tendency of every rational being, from the highest order of raptured seraphs, to the meanest rank of men, is to rise incessantly from lower degrees of happiness to higher. They have each faculties assigned them for various orders of delights.
Page 50 - Yet by some such fortuitous liquefaction was mankind taught to procure a body at once in a high degree solid and transparent, which might admit the light of the sun, and exclude the violence of the wind; which might extend the sight of the philosopher to new ranges of existence, and charm him at one time with the unbounded extent of the material creation, and at another with the endless subordination of animal life; and, what is yet of more importance, might supply the decays of nature, and succour...
Page 20 - 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, which, exercised in such trials as the various revolutions of things shall bring upon it, may, by conquering some calamities, and enduring others, teach us what we may hope, and what we can perform.