Truth, Sir, is a cow which will yield such people no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the bull.
Interpretation
The quest for truth can be unsatisfying for those seeking only easy answers, leading them to pursue falsehoods instead.
In this quote, Samuel Johnson uses a metaphor of milk production to illustrate how those who cannot accept the hard truths of life may abandon genuine inquiry for more appealing falsehoods. The cow represents truth that no longer provides the satisfaction or 'milk' that people desire, prompting them to pursue more enticing but misleading alternatives, as symbolized by milking the bull.
In practice
In a debate about morality, this quote could highlight the importance of facing difficult truths rather than settling for comfortable lies.
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.
Come away, O human child: To the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.
Sincerity is always subject to proof.
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than those attending too small a degree of it.
In my view, all that is necessary for faith is the belief that by doing our best we shall come nearer to success and that success in our aims (the improvement of the lot of mankind, present and future) is worth attaining...I maintain that faith in this world is perfectly possible without faith in another world.
They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly. No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried. Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked. They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone." And what difference does that make?
We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the sermon on the mount.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.