When any fit of gloominess, or perversion of mind, lays hold upon you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaints, but exert your whole care to hide it; by endeavouring to hide it; you will dry it away. Be always busy.
Interpretation
When feeling down, avoid complaining and focus on staying busy to overcome negativity.
This quote by Samuel Johnson emphasizes the importance of managing one's negative feelings and not sharing them through complaints. Instead, he suggests that by keeping oneself occupied, one can effectively diminish those feelings of gloominess and eventually overcome them.
In practice
This quote can be used in a motivational speech to encourage people to focus on productivity during tough times.
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.
Look for the blessing in all situations.
The worst advice? 'Don't listen to the critics.' I think that you really ought to listen to the critics, because sometimes they're telling you something is broken that you can fix.
I'm on the record for five losses or something like that, but the one guy who really whipped me was Muhammad Ali. And it taught me one big lesson. That no matter how big and strong you are, you're going to have to use your mind. You must think things out.
The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Ach, people are always telling us not to do things" said Rob Anybody, "that's how we ken the most interesting things to do.
The farther you look back, the farther you can look ahead.
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