Pension: An allowance made to anyone without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the concept of pensions, suggesting they are rewards for betrayal rather than merit.
Samuel Johnson's quote on pensions reflects a deep skepticism about the nature of rewards given by the state. He implies that pensions are not just compensation for work but rather compensation that can be seen as unjust, particularly when it pertains to individuals whose actions may be viewed as disloyal or treasonous to their country. This perspective invites a broader discussion about the morality of state-sponsored financial support and the implications of rewarding individuals who may not have genuinely served the interests of the public.
In practice
During a lecture on ethics in public service, one might reference Johnson's quote to discuss the morality of government funding.
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.
True liberty consists not merely in being free from something, but also in being free for something.
Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution, She lives whom we call dead.
Consequently, heretics and schismatics, separated from the unity of this Body, are able to receive the same Sacrament, but with no benefit to themselves; indeed, more to their own harm, in that they are judged the more severely rather than being liberated.
Let none admire that riches grow in hell; that soil may best deserve the precious bane.
When I die, I shall soar with angels, and when I die to the angels, what I shall become you cannot imagine.
I have a great mind to believe in Christianity for the mere pleasure of fancying I may be damned.
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