Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; and he may be properly charged with evil who refused to learn how he might prevent it.
Interpretation
Voluntary ignorance is a serious moral failing, and one who chooses not to educate themselves bears responsibility for the consequences.
This quote by Samuel Johnson highlights the moral obligations of individuals to seek knowledge and understanding. It suggests that when people are willfully ignorant, they not only fail to protect themselves but may also cause harm to others. The choice to remain uninformed is likened to a crime, making it crucial for individuals to actively pursue knowledge to prevent ignorance from leading to suffering or injustice.
In practice
A teacher discussing the importance of continuous education in a classroom.
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.
'T is fortune gives us birth, But Jove alone endues the soul with worth.
I don't think it's a good attitude in your life to feel that you have to be rich to have self-esteem.
Do the kind of things that come from the heart, When you do, you won't be dissatisfied, you won't be envious, you won't be longing for somebody else's things. On the contrary, you'll be overhelmed with what comes back
Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all.
Keeping score of old scores and scars, getting even and one-upping, always makes you less than you are.
Attitude lies somewhere between emotion and logic. It's that curious mix of optimism and determination that enables you to maintain a positive outlook and to continue plodding in the face of the most adverse circumstances.
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