In most ages many countries have had part of their inhabitants in a state of slavery; yet it may be doubted whether slavery can ever be supposed the natural condition of man. It is impossible not to conceive that men in their original state were equal; and very difficult to imagine how one would be subjected to another but by violent compulsion. An individual may, indeed, forfeit his liberty by a crime; but he cannot by that crime forfeit the liberty of his children. β¨ James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished, p.195
More Author Quotes
- Sir, they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for any thing we allow them short of hanging. β¨ The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.
- In all pleasures hope is a considerable part. β¨ Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1807). Dr. Johnson's table-talk: aphorisms [&c.] selected and arranged from mr. Boswell's life of Johnson, p.36
- Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear reason, but to assist it. It should not be suffered to tyrannize in the imagination, β¦ βΆ
- Sir, what is poetry? Why, Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is; but it is not easy to tell what it is. β¨ In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 3 β¦ βΆ
- I have already enjoyed too much; give me something to desire. β¨ Samuel Johnson (1977). Selected Poetry and Prose, p.78, Univ of California Press
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