Sir, sorrow is inherent in humanity. As you cannot judge two and two to be either five, or three, but certainly four, so, when comparing a worse present state with a better which is past, you cannot but feel sorrow. It is not cured by reason, but by the incursion of present objects, which bear out the past. β¨ James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1786). Boswell's Life of Johnson: including Boswell's Journal of a tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's diary of A journey into North Wales, p.72
More Author Quotes
- Grief is a species of idleness. β¨ Letter to Mrs Thrale, 17 March 1773, in R. W. Chapman (ed.) 'The Letters of Samuel Johnson' (1952) vol. 1
- Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures. β¨ Rasselas ch. 26 (1759)
- He that teaches us anything which we knew not before is undoubtedly to be reverenced as a master. β¨ Samuel Johnson, Hester Lynch Piozzi, James Boswell (1787). The Beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: C β¦ βΆ
- The faults of a man loved or honoured sometimes steal secretly and imperceptibly upon the wise and virtuous, but by injudicious fondness or thoughtless vanity are adopted with design. β¨ Samuel Johnso β¦ βΆ
- He who aspires to be a serious wine drinker must drink claret.
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