Every man is of importance to himself.
Interpretation
Each individual holds intrinsic value and significance in their own life.
This quote by Samuel Johnson emphasizes the idea that every person plays a crucial role in their own narrative and experiences. It suggests that one's sense of self-importance and value is paramount, encouraging individuals to recognize their own worth and impact, both on themselves and in the broader context of society.
In practice
A motivational speech about self-acceptance and personal value.
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.
Early on, you talk about God because you consider Him to be most important. But later, you realize there are means by which God is known and portrayed.
Books and opinions, no matter from whom they came, if they are in opposition to human rights, are nothing but dead letters.
If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me? Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?
The diagnosis that poverty, lack of education, or lack of opportunities have much to do with terrorism requires a fundamentally optimistic view of human nature. This diagnosis leads to the prognosis that all we need to do to solve the terrorism problem is to create societies that are less poor, better educated and have more opportunities.
He who cannot command himself should obey. And many can command themselves, but much is still lacking before they can obey themselves.
Ending poverty calls for humility, honesty, freedom from ideology and refusal to accept cruel simplicities about anyone's human potential. It requires listening to the wisdom and cutting the nonsense from both the Right and the Left.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.