Quotes on Caution
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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.
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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)
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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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