Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument.
Interpretation
Prejudice is irrational and cannot be changed through logical discussion.
Samuel Johnson's quote emphasizes the irrational nature of prejudice, suggesting that since it is not based on reason or evidence, simply engaging in argument or logical discourse will not be effective in changing a prejudiced mindset. This points to the deeper emotional and social roots of prejudice, highlighting the need for a more profound transformation in beliefs rather than just intellectual debate.
In practice
During a discussion on social justice, one might quote this to emphasize the challenges of changing deeply held biases.
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 Way of Heaven does not complete, and yet it skillfully achieves victory. It does not speak, and yet it skillfully responds to things. It comes to you without your invitation.
Communism is inequality, but not as property is. Property is exploitation of the weak by the strong. Communism is exploitation of the strong by the weak.
I do not speak as I think, I do not think as I should, and so it all goes on in helpless darkness.
If there is only empty space, with no suns nor planets in it, then space loses its substantiality.
Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive. It means that it still matters what Penn did two hundred years ago or what Franklin did a hundred years ago; I never could feel in New York that it mattered what anybody did an hour ago.
What we celebrate at Christmas is not so much the birth of a baby, but the incarnation of God Himself
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.