Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.
Interpretation
Use precise language instead of grandiose words for trivial issues.
Samuel Johnson emphasizes the importance of clarity and precision in communication. By advising against the use of extravagant vocabulary for minor topics, he advocates for a straightforward approach that values substance over style, encouraging effective dialogue and understanding.
In practice
In a public speech about community issues, you might quote Johnson to emphasize the importance of straightforward discussions.
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.
As a vulnerability researcher, the greatest barrier I see is our low tolerance for vulnerability. We're almost afraid to be happy. We feel like it's inviting disaster.
Self-conceit may lead to self destruction.
Essentialism is not about how to get more things done, it's about how to the get the right things done. It doesn't mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
Every time we see people as ordinary, we turn the wine back into water.
Nobody holds a good opinion of a man who has a low opinion of himself.
Abhor all idea of being saved by good works, but O, be as full of good works as if you were to be saved by them!
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