I know not why any one but a school boy in his declamation would whine over the Commonwealth of Rome, which grew great only by the misery of the rest of mankind. The Romans, like others, as soon as they were rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves and of one another.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the moral implications of Rome's greatness, highlighting the cost of prosperity in terms of human suffering and corruption.
Samuel Johnson critiques the Commonwealth of Rome by pointing out that its success came at the expense of other nations and the moral decay of its people. The greatness of Rome is juxtaposed with the misery it caused, suggesting that wealth and power can lead to corruption and the loss of freedom, not just for others but for the Romans themselves. Johnson's words serve as a cautionary reminder about the ethics of ambition and prosperity.
In practice
In a debate about ethical leadership, this quote can be used to argue the importance of accountability in governance.
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.
I'm a free person; I feel terribly free. They could put me in chains and I still would be free because my thoughts would be mine - and that's all I want to have.
How can you prove whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?
Where the good and the bad and the worst and the best have gone to their eternal rest.
To know one’s own state is not a simple matter. One cannot look directly at one’s own face with one’s own eyes, for example. One has no choice but to look at one’s reflection in the mirror. Through experience, we come to believe that the image is correct, but that is all.
Life—the way it really is—is a battle not between good and bad, but between bad and worse
There is no vice so simple but assumes some mark of virtue on his outward parts.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.