The pleasure of expecting enjoyment, is Anticipation often greater than that of obtaining it.Rambler, No. 71. of Improvidence Whatever advantage we snatch beyond a Anticipation certain portion allotted to us by nature, is like money spent before it is due, which at the time of regular payment will be missed and regretted. Joy of The natural flights of the human mind are Anticipation not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.-Rambler, No. 2. Apology is rudeness.-Rambler, No. 153. Apologies There are occasions on which all apology Apologies are seldom of any use.-Life. Apparitions It is undecided whether or not there has ever been an instance of the spirit of any person appearing after death. All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.-Life. Apparitions March 31, 1778. A total disbelief of them is adverse to the opinion of the existence of the soul between death and the last day. --Life. The applause of a single human being is Applause of great consequence.-Life. of Johnson's Sayings, by Langton, 1780. Applause and Applause and admiration are by no means to be counted among the necessaries of life, and therefore, any indirect acts to obtain them have very little claim to pardon or compassion.-Rambler, No. 20. Danger of None can be pleased without praise, and Applause few can be praised without falsehood.Rambler, No. 104. Argument and Argument is argument. You cannot help Testimony paying regard to their arguments, if they are good. If it were testimony you might disregard it. There is a beautiful image in Bacon, upon this subject: Testimony is like an arrow shot from a long bow; the force of it depends on the strength of the hand that draws it. Argument is like an arrow from a cross-bow, which has equal force though shot by a child.-Life. 19, 1784. May The life of a solitary man will be certainly Asceticism miserable, but not certainly devout.Rasselas, ch. xxi. Local To abstract the mind from all local emotion Associations would be impossible if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. The man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.-Journey to the Hebrides. October 19. Attention It is natural for those that have much within to think little on things without; but whoever lives heedlessly lives but in a mist, perpetually deceived by false appearances of the past, without any certain reliance or recollection.-Letter to Mrs. Piozzi, No. 324. The Pride of No person goes under-dressed till he Mean Attire thinks himself of consequence enough to forbear carrying the badge of his rank upon his back.Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 109. An Author The best part of an author will always be found in his writings.-Anecdotes by Sir John Hawkins. A Successful A successful author is equally in danger of Author the diminution of his fame, whether he continues or ceases to write. The regard of the public is not to be kept but by tribute: yet in every new attempt there is hazard. Attacks on It is advantageous to an author that his Authors book should be attacked as well as praised. A man who tells me my play is very bad, is less my enemy than he who lets it die in silence. A man whose business it is to be talked of, is much helped by being attacked. Attacks on Every attack produces a defence; and so Authors attention is engaged. There is no sport in mere praise, when people are all of a mind.-Journal. October 1. Importance of The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.-Preface to English Dictionary, ch. xi., p. 227. Authors and Authors and lovers always suffer some inLovers fatuation, from which only absence can set them free.-Rambler, No. 169. Authors and Those who profess to teach the way to happiness, have multiplied our incumbrances, and the author of almost every book retards his instructions by a preface.-Preliminary Discourse to the London Chronicle, ch. ix., p. 369. What a mass of confusion should we have, Authorship if every Bishop, and every judge, every Lawyer, Physician, and Divine, were to write books.Life. Sept. 21, 1777. Many people have written who might Authorship have let it alone. That people should endeavour to excel in conversation I do not wonder, because in conversation praise is instantly reverberated.— Journal. Art of The two most engaging powers of an author Authorship are to make new things familiar, and familiar things new. Personality in Writers commonly derive their reputation Authorship from their works: but there are works which owe their reputation to the character of the writer.Lives of the Poets. Granville. Authority Lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed. Avarice is the last passion of those Avarice lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition.-Rambler, No. 151. Avarice Avarice Avarice is always poor, but poor by her own fault.-Idler, No. 73. Whoever lays up his penny rather than part with it for a cake, at least is not the slave of gross appetite; and shows besides a preference, always to be esteemed, of the future to the present moment.Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 153. Avarice You despise a man for avarice; but you do not hate him.-Rambler. A Baby One can scarcely help wishing, while one fondles a baby, that it may never live to become a man; for it is so probable that when it becomes a man, he should be sure to end in a scoundrel.— Piozzi's Anecdotes, p. 273. Old Bachelors They that have grown old in a single state are morose, fretful, and captious; tenacious of their own practices and maxims; soon offended by |