Clap an extinguisher upon your irony if you are unhappily blessed with a vein of it.
Interpretation
This quote advises against expressing irony when one is feeling unhappy, suggesting that it can be unhelpful or detrimental.
Charles Lamb's quote encourages individuals who possess a tendency towards irony, especially in times of unhappiness, to suppress that inclination. The underlying message is that irony can often mask or trivialize genuine emotions and experiences, particularly feelings of sorrow or discontent. By 'clapping an extinguisher' on one's irony, Lamb suggests that embracing authenticity and sincerity might be more beneficial during difficult emotional times.
In practice
During a motivational speech about overcoming adversity, you can quote this to emphasize the importance of being genuine.
Thus, when the lamp that lighted The traveller at first goes out, He feels awhile benighted, And looks around in fear and doubt. But soon, the prospect clearing, By cloudless starlight on he treads, And thinks no lamp so cheering As that light which Heaven sheds.
As down in the sunless retreats of the ocean Sweet flowers are springing no mortal can see, So deep in my soul the still prayer of devotion, Unheard by the world, rises silent to Thee. As still to the star of its worship, though clouded, The needle points faithfully o'er the dim sea, So dark when I roam in this wintry world shrouded, The hope of my spirit turns trembling to Thee.
The most mortifying infirmity in human nature, to feel in ourselves, or to contemplate in another, is perhaps cowardice.
Oh, ever thus, from childhood's hour, I 've seen my fondest hopes decay; I never loved a tree or flower But 't was the first to fade away. I never nurs'd a dear gazelle, To glad me with its soft black eye, But when it came to know me well And love me, it was sure to die.
May my last breath be drawn through a pipe, and exhaled in a jest.
A pun is not bound by the laws which limit nicer wit. It is a pistol let off at the ear; not a feather to tickle the intellect.
It is easier to act yourself into a new way of feeling than to feel yourself into a new way of acting.
Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.
Trust no one, not even the finest saint who ever walked this earth, ignore him, if he hinders your sight of Jesus Christ.
The necessary thing for anyone to be happy and contented as long as he lives is working for the ones who will come after him rather than working for himself... One can reach the true delight and happiness in the life only by working for the existence, honor, and happiness of the future generations.
Trust in the process you are now experiencing. Life is on your side. It is showing that to you now, though you may not be able to see it clearly at this time.
If you want to give light to others you have to glow yourself.
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