1,533. Employment No man, unless his body or mind be totally disabled, has need to suffer the morification of seeing himself useless or burthensome to the community; he that will diligently labour, in whatever occupation, will deserve the sustenance which he obtains, and the protection which he enjoys; and may lie down every night with the pleasing consciousness of having contributed something to the happiness of life. Johnson: Adventurer #67 (June 26, 1753) Link 1,535. Employment No man is without some quality, by the due application of which he might deserve well of the world; and whoever he be that has but little in his power, should be in haste to do that little, lest he be confounded with him that can do nothing. Johnson: Adventurer #67 (June 26, 1753) Link 1,772. Employment; Regrets "Employment is the great instrument of intellectual dominion. The mind cannot retire from its enemy into total vacancy, or turn aside from one object but by passing to another. The gloomy and the resentful are always found among those who have nothing to do, or who do nothing. We must be busy about good or evil, and he to whom the present offers nothing will often be looking backwards on the past." Johnson: Idler #72 (September 1, 1759) Link 1,860. Employment; Work "It very seldom happens to man that his business is his pleasure. What is done from necessity is so often to be done when against the present inclination, and so often fills the mind with anxiety, that an habitual dislike steals upon us, and we shrink involuntarily from the remembrance of our task. This is the reason why almost everyone wishes to quit his employment; he does not like another state, but is disgusted with his own." Johnson: Idler #102 (March 29, 1760) Link 1,871. Employment; Work "There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money." Boswell: Life of Johnson Link