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Careers
71. Career Choices; Life
"Life is not long, and too much of it should not be spent in idle
deliberation how it shall be spent: deliberation, which those
who begin it by prudence, and continue it with subtilty, must,
after long expence of thought, conclude by chance. To prefer one
future mode of life to another, upon just reasons, requires
faculties which it has not pleased our Creator to give us."
Boswell: Life
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133. Career Choices;
Soldiers/Sailors
"Men go to sea, before they know the unhappiness of that way of
life; and when they have come to know it, they cannot escape
from it, because it is then too late to choose another
profession; as indeed is generally the case with men, when they
have once engaged in any particular way of life."
Boswell: Life
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519. Career Choices; Vanity
"A man truly zealous for his fraternity is never so irresistibly
flattered as when some rival calling is mentioned with
contempt."
Johnson: Rambler #9 (April 17, 1750)
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521. Career Choices; Pride in
Work
"Every man, from the highest to the lowest station, ought to warm
his heart and animate his endeavours with the hopes of being
useful to the world, by advancing the art which it is his lot to
exercise; and for that end he must necessarily consider the
whole extent of its application, and the whole weight of its
importance."
Johnson: Rambler #9 (April 17, 1750)
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522. Career Choices
"But let him [one proud of his career -- Ed.] not too
readily imagine that another is ill employed, because, for want
of fuller knowledge of his business, he is not able to comprehend
its dignity. Every man ought to endeavour at eminence, not by
pulling others down, but by raising himself, and enjoy the
pleasures of his own superiority, whether imaginary or real,
without interrupting others in the same felicity. The
philosopher may very justly be delighted with the extent of his
views, and the artificer with the readiness of his hands; but
let the one remember that, without mechanical performances,
refined speculation is an empty dream; and the other that,
without theoretical reasoning, dexterity is little more than a
brute instinct."
Johnson: Rambler #9 (April 17, 1750)
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561. Career Choices
"It was said of the learned Bishop Sanderson, that, when he was
preparing his lectures, he hesitated so much, and rejected so
often, that, at the time of reading, he was often forced to
produce, not what was best, but what happened to be at hand.
This will be the state of every man, who, in the choice of his
employment, balances all the arguments on every side; the
complication is so intricate, the motives and objections so
numerous, there is so much play for the imagination, and so much
remains in the power of others, that reason is forced at last to
rest in neutrality, the decision devolves into the hands of
chance, and after a great part of life spent in inquiries which
can never be resolved, the rest must often pass in repenting the
unnecessary delay, and can be useful to few other purposes than
to warn others against the same folly, and to show, that of two
states of life equally consistent with religion and virtue, he
who chooses earliest chooses best."
Johnson: Rambler #19 (May 22, 1750)
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619. Career Choice
"Converse with almost any man grown old in a profession, and you
will find him regretting that he did not enter into some
different course, to which he too late finds his genius better
adapted, or in which he finds that wealth and honour are more
easily attained. ... Every man recounts the inconveniences of
his own station, and thinks those of any other less, because he
has not felt them."
Johnson: Rambler #45 (August 21, 1750)
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700. Career Choice; Choice
"Inconstancy, however dignified by its motives, is always to be
avoided, because life allows us but a small time for inquiry and
experiment, and he that steadily endeavours for excellence, in
whatever employment, will more benefit mankind than he that
hesitates in choosing his part till he is called to the
performance."
Johnson: Rambler #63 (October 23, 1750)
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907. Career Choice; Economics
"It cannot ... be expected of all to be poets and philosophers;
it is necessary that the greater part of mankind should be
employed in the minute business of common life; minute, indeed,
not if we consider its influence upon our happiness, but if we
respect the abilities requisite to conduct it."
Johnson: Rambler #80 (December 22, 1750)
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1,140. Career Choice; Curiosity;
Focus; Perspective
"Even of those who have dedicated themselves to knowledge, the
far greater part have confined their curiosity to a few objects,
and have very little inclination to promote any fame but that of
which their own studies entitle them to partake. The naturalist
has no desire to know the opinions or conjectures of the
philosopher; the botanist looks upon the astronomer as a being
unworthy of his regard; the lawyer scarcely hears the name of a
physician without contempt; and he that is growing great and
happy by electrifying a bottle, wonders how the world can be
engaged by trifling prattle about war or peace."
Johnson: Rambler #118 (May 4, 1751)
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1,254. Career Choice; Choice
"To deliberate upon a choice which custom and honour forbid to be
retracted is certainly reasonable, yet to loose the attention
equally to the advantages and inconveniences of every employment
is not without danger; new motives are every moment operating on
every side; and the mechanics have long ago discovered, that
contrariety of equal attractions is equivalent to rest."
Johnson: Rambler #153 (September 3, 1751)
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