He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly become corrupt.
Interpretation
Corruption breeds suspicion, and suspicion can lead to further corruption.
This quote by Samuel Johnson highlights the interconnectedness of corruption and suspicion. It suggests that those who are already corrupt tend to view others with suspicion, as their own moral decay leads them to believe that others may also be untrustworthy. Conversely, a mind filled with suspicion can corrupt one's character, leading to an erosion of values and trust in others.
In practice
In a discussion on ethics, one might say, 'As Samuel Johnson observed, corruption often leads to suspicion.', emphasizing the importance of moral integrity.
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.
I deplore the horrible crime as child murder....no matter what the motive, love of ease, or desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent,the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed...but oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which compelled her to the crime.
A proud man is satisfied with his own good opinion, and does not seek to make converts to it.
The baby looks at things all day without winking; that is because his eyes are not focused on any particular object. He goes without knowing where he is going, and stops without knowing what he is doing. He merges himself within the surroundings and moves along with it. These are the principles of mental hygiene.
Works? Works? A man get to heaven by works? I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand!
Now the story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us the same way as the others, but with this tremendous difference that it really happened: and one must be content to accept it in the same way, remembering that it is Godβs myth where the others are menβs myths: i.e., the Pagan stories are God expressing Himself through the minds of poets, using such images as He found there, while Christianity is God expressing Himself through what we call 'real things'.
I think that cancer is a life form that exists out there, and it exists in us. I think even the concept of healing is a spiritual principle that we have to really look at. I think the word itself is something we ought to get rid of, because it implies that there is illness - that there is something wrong.
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