To get a name can happen but to few. A name, even in the most commercial nation, is one of the few things which cannot be bought . It is the free gift of mankind, which must be deserved before it will be granted, and is at last unwillingly bestowed.
Interpretation
A person's name is something earned through character and actions, not something that can be purchased.
This quote by Samuel Johnson emphasizes the significance of one's reputation and name, suggesting that while many things can be bought in a commercial society, a name must be earned through merit and integrity. It highlights the intrinsic value of a name, which is a reflection of a person's character and contributions rather than a mere commodity.
In practice
During a leadership seminar, I shared this quote to underline the importance of earning trust and respect.
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.
Build and they will come’ is not a strategy, it’s a prayer.
The entrepreneurial journey starts with jumping off a cliff and assembling an airplane on the way down.
The reason we're successful, darling? My overall charisma, of course.
The best pilots fly more than the others; that's why they're the best.
Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure.
There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knights-odds to and still beat.
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