I know not anything more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare experience with expectation, or to register from time to time the difference between idea and reality. It is by this kind of observation that we grow daily less liable to be disappointed.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of reflecting on our experiences in relation to our expectations to avoid disappointment.
Samuel Johnson highlights the value of comparing our real-life experiences with our expectations. By regularly examining the discrepancies between our ideas and reality, we learn to adjust our expectations and become more resilient to disappointment, fostering personal growth and wisdom over time.
In practice
During a motivational speech about personal growth.
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 can choose either to be a victim of the world or an adventurer in search of treasure. It's all a question of how I view my life.
The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.
The mirror of the heart must be clear, so you can discern the ugly from the beautiful.
They would need to be already wise, in order to love wisdom.
It has cost them but a moment to cut off that head; but a hundred years will not be sufficient to produce another like it.
It will not do merely to listen to great principles. You must apply them in the practical field, turn them into constant practice. What will be the good of cramming the high - sounding dicta of the scriptures? You have first to grasp the teachings of the Shastras, and then to work them out in practical life. Do you understand? This is called practical religion.
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