Enlarge my life with multitude of days, In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays; Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know, That life protracted is protracted woe. Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy, And shuts up all the passages of joy.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the complexities of life and the human tendency to ignore its challenges while seeking joy.
Samuel Johnson's quote emphasizes the duality of life, where the desire for more days can lead to an increase in suffering as well. It highlights the inevitability of time and how, rather than bringing joy, a prolonged life often becomes a burden. The speaker recognizes a struggle between the pursuit of happiness and the reality of pain, suggesting that ignoring one's true state can prevent a genuine appreciation of life’s moments.
In practice
During a speech about the value of time and life, this quote can emphasize the importance of living fully even amidst challenges.
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.
For what human ill does dawn not seem to be alternative?
It would be one of the greatest triumphs of humanity, one of the most tangible liberations from the constraints of nature to which mankind is subject, if we could succeed in raising the responsible act of procreating children to the level of a deliberate and intentional activity and in freeing it from its entanglement with the necessary satisfaction of a natural need.
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.
This is the Great Theatre of Life. Admission is free, but the taxation is mortal. You come when you can, and leave when you must. The show is continuous. Goodnight.
No author ever drew a character consistent to human nature, but he was forced to ascribe to it many inconsistencies.
Our collective freedom... depends on our ability to defend the rights of others.
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