Saturday, December 1, 2018

Quote of the Day (Samuel Johnson, on ‘Incitements to Forsake Truth’)


“There are indeed, in the present corruption of mankind, many incitements to forsake truth: the need of palliating our own faults and the convenience of imposing on the ignorance or credulity of others so frequently occur; so many immediate evils are to be avoided, and so many present gratifications obtained, by craft and delusion, that very few of those who are much entangled in life have spirit and constancy sufficient to support them in the steady practice of open veracity." —English man of letters Samuel Johnson (1709 -1784), Rambler #96 (February 16, 1751)

(Portrait of Dr. Johnson by his friend, Sir Joshua Reynolds.)

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