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Dr Samuel Johnston-definitions


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Some of his definitions ring truer today than they did when he wrote them, so here are a few of my favourite ones.

 

Apologies are seldom of any use.

 

Contempt is a kind of gangrene, which if it siezes one part of the character it corupts all the rest by degrees.

 

Excise a hateful tax levied on comodities.

 

Guest a man who stays for a week with another and makes him a slave for a week.

 

Pension pay given to a state hireling for treson to his country.

 

Patron commonly, a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.

 

Hope is itself a species of happiness and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords.

 

Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

 

Matt

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