The majority have no other reason for their opinions than that they are the fashion.
Interpretation
People often form opinions based on trends rather than their own reasoning.
This quote by Samuel Johnson suggests that many people's beliefs and opinions are not based on thoughtful consideration, but rather on social norms and trends. Johnson criticizes the lack of independent thought, implying that individuals conform to what is popular or fashionable, leading to shallow understanding and superficial beliefs.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the impact of social media on public opinion.
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.
People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.
He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God.
Religion is like a map. The route isn't important. It's the destination that matters.
Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow.
I know of nothing sublime which is not some modification of power.
Creation destroys as it goes, throws down one tree for the rise of another. But ideal mankind would abolish death, multiply itself million upon million, rear up city upon city, save every parasite alive, until the accumulation of mere existence is swollen to a horror.
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