Will Johnson
Will Johnson
thrones taverns chairs
A tavern chair is the throne of human felicity.
envy desire
All envy is proportionate to desire.
ideas wish lovers
I wish there were some cure, like the lover's leap, for all heads of which some single idea has obtained an unreasonable and irregular possession.
fleas settling flea-markets
Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea.
dream real long
Like an image in a dream the world is troubled by love, hatred, and other poisons. So long as the dream lasts, the image appears to be real; but on awaking it vanishes.
hypocrisy burden villainy
Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy.
vacancy calm gloomy
Gloomy calm of idle vacancy.
sight ease forget
Governors being accustomed to hear of more crimes than they can punish, and more wrongs than they can redress, set themselves at ease by indiscriminate negligence, and presently forget the request when they lose sight of the petitioner.
characteristics cruelty meanness
An infallible characteristic of meanness is cruelty.
twilight cunning
Cunning differs from wisdom as twilight from open day.
practice causes reason
Their origin is commonly unknown; for the practice often continues when the cause has ceased, and concerning superstitious ceremonies it is in vain to conjecture; for what reason did not dictate, reason cannot explain.
miscarriage envy excellence
Diffidence may check resolution and obstruct performance, but compensates its embarrassments by more important advantages; it conciliates the proud, and softens the severe; averts envy from excellence, and censure from miscarriage.
wine men drunk
Before dinner men meet with great inequality of understanding; and those who are conscious of their inferiority have the modesty not to talk; when they have drunk wine, every man feels himself happy, and loses that modesty, and grows impudent and vociferous; but he is not improved; he is only not sensible of his defects.
distance dirt looks
By those who look close to the ground dirt will be seen. I hope I see things from a greater distance.