An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay, And glides in modest innocence away.
Interpretation
Time passes quietly and subtly, often unnoticed, leading us into a state of innocence as it fades.
This quote reflects on the imperceptible passage of time and how it leads to a gradual decay of life and experiences. Johnson suggests that this decay, while often unnoticed, can be accompanied by a certain modest innocence, indicating that the loss of time does not always bring regret but may allow for a peaceful acceptance of life's transience.
In practice
In a reflective speech about the passage of life during a memorial service.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so powerful as conscience which dwells within us.
How many emperors and how many princes have lived and died and no record of them remains, and they only sought to gain dominions and riches in order that their fame might be ever-lasting.
It's always a Catch-22 situation. They hate you if you're the same, and they hate you if you're different.
My mother said I broke her heart...but it was my integrity that was important. Is that so selfish? It sells for so little, but it's all we have left in this place. It is the very last inch of us...but within that inch we are free.
You will never understand who you are until you understand who God is.
I measured the skies, now the shadows I measure, Sky-bound was the mind, earth-bound the body rests. [Kepler's epitaph]
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