Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause a while from learning to be wise. There mark what ills the scholar's life assail,- Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
Interpretation
Take time to observe the challenges faced by scholars instead of only focusing on gaining knowledge.
In this quote, Samuel Johnson urges individuals to step back from their relentless pursuit of knowledge and reflect on the struggles that come with scholarly life. He highlights the burdens of toil, envy, financial struggles, reliance on patrons, and the potential for imprisonment that can beset those who seek wisdom, suggesting that awareness of these challenges is crucial for a well-rounded understanding of life.
In practice
During a graduation speech, I shared this quote to encourage students to consider the challenges they may face in their careers.
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.
I have been speculating last night what makes a man a discoverer of undiscovered things; and a most perplexing problem it is. Many men who are very clever - much cleverer than the discoverers - never originate anything.
It is worse still to be ignorant of your ignorance.
What can we put into the hands of people under oppressive regimes to help them? For me, a big part of it is information, knowledge - the ability to defeat propaganda by understanding it.
With an open mind, seek and listen to all the highest ideals. Consider the most enlightened thoughts. Then choose your path, person by person, each for oneself.
But there is another danger besetting your path. I mean the error of regarding your own capacities instead of your work, of putting self-consciousness in place of God.
My chief study all my life has been to lighten misfortunes and multiply pleasures, as far as human nature can.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.