182. Conversation; Diversion;
Stimulation
"You hunt in the morning (says he), and crowd to the public rooms
at night, and call it diversion; when your heart knows it
is perishing with poverty of pleasures, and your wits get blunted
for want of some other mind to sharpen them upon. There is in
this world no real delight (excepting those of sensuality), but
exchange of ideas in conversation; and whoever has once
experienced the full flow of London talk, when he retires to
country friendships and rural sports, must either be contented to
turn baby again and play with the rattle, or he will pine away
like a great fish in a little pond, and die for want of his usual
food."
Piozzi: Anecdotes
Link
193. Conversation; Prying
"Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen. It
is assuming a superiority, and it is particularly wrong to
question a man concerning himself. There may be parts of his
former life which he may not wish to be made known to other
persons, or even brought to his own recollection."
Boswell: Life
Link
225. Conversation; Conviviality
When I complained of having dined at a splendid table without
hearing one sentence of conversation worthy of being remembered,
he said, "Sir, there seldom is any such conversation."
Boswell: "Why then meet at table?" Johnson:
"Why, to eat and drink together, and to promote kindness; and,
Sir, this is better done when there is no solid conversation;
for when there is, people differ in opinion, and get into bad
humour, or some of the company who are not capable of such
conversation, are left out, and feel themselves uneasy. It was
for this reason, Sir Robert Walpole said, he always talked bawdy
at his table, because in that all could join."
Boswell: Life
Link
280. Conversation; Envy
"Sir, there is nothing by which a man exasperates most people
more, than by displaying a superiour ability or brilliancy in
conversation. They seem pleased at the time; but their envy
makes them curse him in their hearts."
Boswell: Life
Link
537. Conversation
"The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly
remembered but a general effect of pleasing impression."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
545. Conversation; Writing
"A transition from an author's book to his conversation is too
often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant
prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples and
turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour,
grandeur, and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates,
we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with
despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded
with smoke."
Johnson: Rambler #14 (May 5, 1750)
Link
664. Conversation; Englishmen;
Weather
"It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their
first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each
other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold,
bright or cloudy, windy or calm."
Johnson: Idler #11 (June 24, 1758)
Link
879. Conversation; Fame;
Mourning
"That desire which every man feels of being remembered and
lamented is often mortified when we remark how little concern is
caused by the eternal departure even of those who have passed
their lives with public honours, and been distinguished by
extraordinary performances. It is not possible to be regarded
with tenderness except by a few. That merit which gives
greatness and renown diffuses its influence to a wide compass,
but acts weakly on every single breast; it is placed at a
distance from common spectators, and shines like one of the
remote stars, of which the light reaches us, but not the heat.
The wit, the hero, the philosopher, whom their tempers or
their fortunes have hindered from intimate relations, die,
without any other effect than that of adding a new topic to the
conversation of the day. They impress none with any fresh
conviction of the fragility of our nature, because none had any
particular interest in their lives, or was united to them by a
reciprocation of endearments."
Johnson: Rambler #78 (December 15, 1750)
Link
910. Conversation
"It is scarcely possible to pass an hour in honest conversation,
without being able, when we rise from it, to please ourselves
with having given or received some advantages."
Johnson: Rambler #80 (December 22, 1750)
Link
979. Conversation; Conviviality;
Involvement; Society
"After the exercises which the health of the body requires, and
which have themselves a natural tendency to actuate and
invigorate the mind, the most eligible amusement of a rational
being seems to be that interchange of thoughts which is practised
in free and easy conversation; where suspicion is banished by
experience, and emulation by benevolence; where every man speaks
with no other restraint than unwillingness to offend, and hears
with no other disposition than desire to be pleased."
Johnson: Rambler #89 (January 22, 1751)
Link
1,061. Attention; Conversation;
Wit
"Perhaps no kind of superiority is more flattering or alluring
than that which is conferred by the powers of conversation, by
extemporaneous sprightliness of fancy, copiousness of language,
and fertility of sentiment. In other exertions of genius the
greater part of the praise is unknown and unenjoyed; the writer,
indeed, spreads his reputation to a wider extent, but receives
little pleasure or advantage from the diffusions of his name, and
only obtains a kind of nominal sovereignty over regions which pay
no tribute. The colloquial wit has always his own radiance
reflected on himself, and enjoys all the pleasure which he
bestows; he finds his power confessed by every one that
approaches him, sees friendship kindling with rapture, and
attention swelling into praise."
Johnson: Rambler #101 (March 5, 1751) -- from Hilarius, a
fictional correspondent
Link
1,065. Conversation; Wit
"Those who desire to partake of the pleasure of wit must
contribute to its production, since the mind stagnates without
external ventilation."
Johnson: Rambler #101 (March 5, 1751) -- from Hilarius, a
fictional correspondent
Link
1,373. Conversation; Seduction
"Every man has some favourite topic of conversation, on which, by
a feigned seriousness of attention, he may be drawn to expatiate
without end."
Johnson: Rambler #174 (November 15, 1751) (a fictional
correspondent, Dicaculus)
Link
1,383. Writing
It has been circulated, I know not with what authenticity, that
Johnson considered Dr. Birch as a dull writer, and said of him,
"Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner
does he take a pen in his hand, than it becomes a torpedo to him,
and benumbs all his faculties."
Boswell: Life of Johnson
Link
1,432. Conversation; Vanity; Wit
"None of the desires dictated by vanity is more general, or less
blamable, than that of being distinguished for the arts of
conversation."
Johnson: Rambler #188 (January 4, 1752)
Link
1,434. Conversation; Conviviality;
Wit
"The pleasure which men are able to give in conversation holds no
stated proportion to their knowledge or their virtue. Many find
their way to the tables and parties of those who never considered
them as of the least importance in any other place; we have all,
at one time or other been content to love those whom we could not
esteem, and been persuaded to try the dangerous experiment of
admitting him for a companion whom we knew to be too ignorant for
a counsellor, and too treacherous for a friend."
Johnson: Rambler #188 (January 4, 1752)
Link
1,436. Conversation
"No style of conversation is more extensively acceptable than the
narrative."
Johnson: Rambler #188 (January 4, 1752)
Link
1,437. Conversation; Modesty
"The modest man is a companion of a yet lower rank, whose
only power of giving pleasure is not to interrupt it. The modest
man satisfies himself with peaceful silence, which all his
companions are candid enough to consider as proceeding not from
inability to speak, but willingness to hear."
Johnson: Rambler #188 (January 4, 1752)
Link
1,560. Conversation;
Socialization
"A ready man is made by conversation. He that buries himself
among his manuscripts 'besprent,' as Pope expresses it, 'with
learned dust,' and wears out his days and nights in perpetual
research and solitary mediation, is too apt to lose in his
elocution what he adds to his wisdom; and when he comes into the
world, to appear overloaded with his own notions, like a man
armed with weapons which he cannot wield. He has no facility
of inculcating his speculations, of adapting himself to the
various degrees of intellect which the accidents of conversation
will present; but will talk to most unintelligibly, and to all
unpleasantly."
Johnson: Adventurer #85 (August 28, 1753)
Link
1,563. Conversation; Sophistry;
Writing
"To fix the thoughts by writing, and subject them to frequent
examinations and reviews, is the best method of enabling the mind
to detect its own sophisms, and keep it on guard against the
fallacies which it practises on others: in conversation we
naturally diffuse our thoughts, and in writing we contract them;
method is the excellence of writing, and unconstraint the grace
of conversation."
Johnson: Adventurer #85 (August 28, 1753)
Link
