A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the importance of clarity and precision in communication, suggesting that verbosity can lead to misunderstandings.
Samuel Johnson's quote reflects on the idea that using excessive words often obscures true meaning, much like a marksman who throws many stones in a random manner rather than taking careful aim. By emphasizing the need for precision and clarity, Johnson urges us to be mindful in our communication to convey our thoughts effectively.
In practice
In a public speaking event, you might use this quote to emphasize the importance of being concise.
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.
To get back my youth I would do anything in the world, except take exercise, get up early, or be respectable.
Most of us have spent our lives caught up in plans, expectations, ambitions for the future; in regrets, guilt or shame about the past. To come into the present is to stop the war.
Anger is one letter short of danger.
You can either practice being right or practice being kind.
There is a path toward the light. The one that goes blink, blink, blink inside your chest when you know what you're doing is right. Listen to it. Trust it. Let it make you stronger than you are.
Labour may be a burden and a chastisement, but it is also an honour and a glory. Without it, nothing can be accomplished.
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