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Monday, 18 September 2017

One is but an insect

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As today is Samuel Johnson's birthday, here are a few Johnson quotes still suited to our own times.

My dear friend, clear your mind of cant.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.


A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but, one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

6 comments:

Sam Vega said...

"A cable, Sir, is a twisted thing that goes on and on."

wiggiatlarge said...

Quite amazing that a supposedly intelligent man can say something like that in the hope that it will curry favour with a voting segment, he also believes he can be PM, perhaps not intelligent at all just another useless politician.

Sackerson said...

Slightly o/t but reminded by your title:

Who but must laugh, the master when he sees,
A puny insect, shiv'ring at a breeze!

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44894/epistles-to-several-persons-epistle-iv

Demetrius said...

I do not like to say this but is Cable now losing the odd marble or two?

James Higham said...

Damn, missed it. Should have run some quotes.

A K Haart said...

Sam - I wish I'd thought of that.

Wiggia - exactly. It's hard to see him as intelligent even though he may well come across as intelligent in a social situation.

Sackers - I keep intending to read Pope. One day...

Demetrius - I think he is. He seems to think he can overcome his age and tune in to the concerns of modern voters but I'm not so sure.

James - Google reminded me.