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.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the insignificance of minor irritations in the face of greater strength or stature.
In this quote, Samuel Johnson emphasizes that small annoyances or challenges, represented by the fly, may provoke a reaction from those who are much more significant or powerful, symbolized by the stately horse. Despite the momentary discomfort caused by the fly, it does not change the essential nature or status of the horse, illustrating that true strength remains untainted by trivial adversities.
In practice
In a speech about handling criticism, one might use this quote to illustrate that minor criticisms don't define a person's worth.
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.
The U.S. should worry about the effects of its polices on the rest of the world. We would like to live in a world where countries take into account the effect of their policies on other countries and do what is right, broadly, rather than what is just right given the circumstances of that country.
What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the Reaper Man?
Do not grieve yourself too much for those you hate, nor yet forget them utterly.
How much more of the mosque, of prayer and fasting?_x000D_ _x000D_ Better go drunk and begging round the taverns._x000D_ _x000D_ Khayyam, drink wine, for soon this clay of yours_x000D_ _x000D_ Will make a cup, bowl, one day a jar._x000D_ _x000D_ When once you hear the roses are in bloom,_x000D_ _x000D_ Then is the time, my love, to pour the wine;_x000D_ _x000D_ Houris and palaces and Heaven and Hell-_x000D_ _x000D_ These are but fairy-tales, forget them all.
Hate begets hate, violence engenders violence, hypocrisy is answered by hypocrisy, war generates war, and love creates love.
Our challenge is to join forces of the old and the new- experience and experiment, history and destiny, the world of man and the new world of science- but always in accordance with the never-changing word of God.
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