There is less flogging in our great schools than formerly-but then less is learned there; so what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
Interpretation
While discipline has decreased in schools, so has the quality of learning, suggesting a trade-off between strictness and knowledge gained.
Samuel Johnson's quote reflects on the evolving educational practices within schools, highlighting a paradox where a reduction in strict discipline seems to correlate with a decline in the learning outcomes of students. The implication is that a balanced approach to education, which combines both discipline and effective teaching methods, is essential for meaningful learning to occur.
In practice
During a discussion on educational reforms, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of maintaining a balance between discipline and learning.
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.
The student is to read history actively and not passively.
A man with a scant vocabulary will almost certainly be a weak thinker. The richer and more copious one's vocabulary and the greater one's awareness of fine distinctions and subtle nuances of meaning, the more fertile and precise is likely to be one's thinking. Knowledge of things and knowledge of the words for them grow together. If you do not know the words, you can hardly know the thing.
Loving a child doesn't mean giving in to all his whims; to love him is to bring out the best in him, to teach him to love what is difficult.
Travel is rich with learning opportunities, and the ultimate sourvenir is a broader perspective.
When I had no money, and a great book came out, I couldn't get it. I had to wait. I love the idea that I have hardcover books here and at home that I haven't read yet. That's how I view that I'm rich. I have hardcover books I may never read.
Adult helplessness destroys children. Or it forces them to become tiny adults of their own.
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