No degree of knowledge attainable by man is able to set him above the want of hourly assistance, or to extinguish the desire of fond endearments and tender officiousness; and, therefore, no one should think it unnecessary to learn those arts by which friendship may be gained.
Interpretation
No amount of knowledge can replace the need for friendship and support from others.
Samuel Johnson emphasizes that regardless of how much one knows or achieves, the human desire for connection and assistance remains. Therefore, it's essential to cultivate the skills required to form and maintain friendships, as these relationships are vital for emotional well-being and support.
In practice
This quote could be shared at a graduation ceremony to remind graduates of the importance of relationships.
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.
My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake.
Verily, great grace may go with a little gift; and precious are all things that come from a friend.
Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes.
But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.
With every true friendship, we build more firmly the foundations on which the peace of the whole world rests.
We read not only because we cannot know enough people, but because friendship is so vulnerable, so likely to diminish or disappear, overcome by space, time, imperfect sympathies, and all the sorrows of familial and passional life.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.