462. Celibacy; Charity; Involvement;
Marriage; Stoicism; Solitude
"To live without feeling or exciting sympathy, to be fortunate
without adding to the felicity of others, or afflicted without
tasting the balm of pity, is a state more gloomy than solitude;
it is not retreat, but exclusion from mankind. Marriage has many
pains, but celibacy has no pleasures."
Johnson: Rasselas [Princess Nekayah]
Note: If you haven't read it yet, please read this note of caution regarding quotes from
Rasselas.
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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)
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