There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.
Interpretation
The thought of being with a charming partner can distract us from being cautious and rational.
In this quote, Samuel Johnson reflects on how the allure of a pleasant and attractive partner can lead us to let our guard down and perhaps overlook important considerations in life. It suggests that the emotional ties we form can sometimes cloud our judgment, highlighting the powerful impact relationships have on our reasoning and decision-making.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about the influence of romantic relationships on decision-making.
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.
But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
...a fixation is very stubborn: it burrows into the brain and breaks the heart. There are many fixations, but love is the worst.
I sit on the couch watching her arrange her long red hair before my bedroom mirror. she pulls her hair up and piles it on top of her head- she lets her eyes look at my eyes- then she drops her hair and lets it fall down in front of her face. we go to bed and I hold her speechlessly from the back my arm around her neck I touch her wrists and hands feel up to her elbows no further.
All you need in the world is love and laughter. That's all anybody needs. To have love in one hand and laughter in the other.
When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.
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