Other related topics at:
All In Your Mind
432. Caution; Pioneers; Vision
"Nothing ... will ever be attempted, if all possible objections
must be first overcome."
Johnson: Rasselas [The Artist]
Note: If you haven't read it yet, please read this note of caution regarding quotes from
Rasselas.
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500. Caution; Inconclusion
"He who will determine ... against that which he knows, because
there may be something which he knows not; he that can set
hypothetical possibility against acknowledged certainty, is not
to be admitted among reasonable beings."
Johnson: Rasselas [Imlac]
Note: If you haven't read it yet, please read this note of caution regarding quotes from
Rasselas.
Link
890. Caution; Projection; Suspicion;
Trust
"Whoever ... is overrun with suspicion, and detects artifice and
stratagem in every proposal, must either have learned by
experience or observation the wickedness of mankind, and been
taught to avoid fraud by having often suffered or seen treachery;
or he must derive his judgment from the consciousness of his own
disposition, and impute to others the same inclinations which he
feels predominant in himself."
Johnson: Rambler #79 (December 18, 1750)
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891. Caution; Suspicion
"To learn caution by turning our eyes upon life, and observing
the arts by which negligence is surprised, timidity overborne,
and credulity amused, requires either great latitude of converse
and long acquaintance with business, or uncommon activity of
vigilance, and acuteness of penetration."
Johnson: Rambler #79 (December 18, 1750)
Link
1,198. Caution; Fear; Pioneers
"In questions difficult or dangerous, it is indeed natural to
repose upon authority, and, when fear happens to predominate,
upon the authority of those whom we do not in general think wiser
than ourselves."
Johnson: Rambler #135 (July 2, 1751)
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1,277. Caution; Hesitation
"There are not many situations more incessantly uneasy than that
in which the man is placed who is watching an opportunity to
speak without courage to take it when it is offered, and who,
though he resolves to give a specimen of his abilities, always
finds some reason or other for delaying it to the next
minute."
Johnson: Rambler #157 (September 17, 1751)
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1,769. Caution; Regret
"The business of life is to go forwards; he who sees evil in
prospect meets it in his way; but he who catches it by
retrospection turns back to find it. That which is feared may
sometimes be avoided, but that which is regretted to-day may be
regretted again to-morrow."
Johnson: Idler #72 (September 1, 1759)
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