12 quotes
Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.
The Idler (1758)
He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.
The Idler (1758)
Among the calamities of war may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.
The Idler (1758)
The joy of life is variety; the tenderest love requires to be renewed by intervals of absence.
The Idler (1758)
Slavery is now no where more patiently endured, than in countries once inhabited by the zealots of liberty.
The Idler (1758)
The act of writing itself distracts the thoughts, and what is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.
The Idler (1758)
We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know, because they have never deceived us.
The Idler (1758)
Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
The Idler (1758)
I know not whether more is to be dreaded from streets filled with soldiers accustomed to plunder, or from garrets filled with scribblers accustomed to lies.
The Idler (1758)
Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is, therefore, become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises, and by eloquence sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetick. Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.
The Idler (1758)
It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.
The Idler (1758)
It is seldom that we find either men or places such as we expect them. ... Yet it is necessary to hope, though hope should always be deluded, for hope itself is happiness, and its frustrations, however frequent, are yet less dreadful than its extinction.
The Idler (1758)