Other related topics at: Virtue and Vice The Whole Truth 529. Anger; Argument; Obstruction; Posturing "He that finds his knowledge narrow, and his arguments weak, and by consequence his suffrage not much regarded, is sometimes in hope of gaining that attention by his clamours which he cannot otherwise obtain, and is pleased with remembering that at last he made himself heard, that he had the power to interrupt those whom he could not confute, and suspend the decision which he could not guide." Johnson: Rambler #11 (April 24, 1750) Link 530. Posturing; Vanity "...Of this kind is the fury to which many men give way among their servants and domestics; they feel their own ignorance, they see their own insignificance, and, therefore, they endeavour, by their fury, to fright away contempt before them, when they know it must follow them behind; and think themselves eminently masters, when they see one folly tamely complied with, only lest refusal or delay should provoke them to a greater." Johnson: Rambler #11 (April 24, 1750) Link 531. Intimidation; Posturing; Vanity "It is so little pleasing to any man to see himself wholly overlooked in the mass of things, that he may be allowed to try a few expedients for procuring some kind of supplemental dignity, and use some endeavour to add weight, by the violence of his temper, to the lightness of his other powers. But this has now long been practised, and found, upon the most exact estimate, not to produce advantages equal to its inconveniences; for it appears not that a man can by uproar, tumult, and bluster alter any one's opinion of his understanding, or gain influence except over those whom fortune or nature have made his dependents. He may, by a steady perseverance in his ferocity, fright his children, and harass his servants, but the rest of the world will look on and laugh; and he will have the comfort at last of thinking that he lives only to raise contempt and hatred, emotions to which wisdom and virtue would be always unwilling to give occasion. He has contrived only to make those fear him whom every reasonable being is endeavouring to endear by kindness, and must content himself with the pleasure of a triumph obtained by trampling on them who could not resist. He must perceive that the apprehension which his presence causes is not the awe of his virtue, but the dread of his brutality, and that he has given up the felicity of being loved, without gaining the honour of being reverenced." Johnson: Rambler #11 (April 24, 1750) Link 966. Advice; Posturing; Vanity "Advice, as it always gives a temporary appearance of superiority, can never be very grateful, even when it is most necessary or most judicious. But for the same reason everyone is eager to instruct his neighbours. To be wise or to be virtuous is to buy dignity and importance at a high price; but when nothing is necessary to elevation but detection of the follies or faults of others, no man is so insensible to the voice of fame as to linger on the ground." Johnson: Rambler #87 (January 15, 1751) Link 1,031. Posturing; Virtue "Large offers and sturdy rejections are among the most common topicks of falsehood." Johnson: Milton (Lives of the Poets) Link 1,403. Posturing "Scarce any man becomes eminently disagreeable but by a departure from his real character, and an attempt at something for which nature or education has left him unqualified." Johnson: Rambler #179 (December 3, 1751) Link 1,404. Posturing "Ignorance or dulness have indeed no power of affording delight, but they never give disgust except when they assume the dignity of knowledge, or ape the sprightliness of wit. Awkwardness and inelegance have none of those attractions by which ease and politeness and politeness take possession of the heart; but ridicule and censure seldom rise against them unless they appear associated with that confidence which belongs only to long acquaintance with the modes of life, and to consciousness of unfailing propriety of behaviour. Deformity itself is regarded with tenderness rather than aversion, when it does not attempt to deceive the sight by dress and decoration, and to seize, upon fictitious claims, the prerogatives of beauty." Johnson: Rambler #179 (December 3, 1751) Link 1,405. Posturing "Disposition to derision and insult is awakened by the softness to foppery, the swell of insolence, the liveliness of levity, or the solemnity of grandeur; by the sprightly trip, the stately stalk, the formal strut, and the lofty mein; by gestures intended to catch the eye, and by looks elaborately formed as evidences of importance." Johnson: Rambler #179 (December 3, 1751) Link 1,440. Posturing; Vanity "Almost every man wastes part of his life in attempts to display qualities which he does not possess, and to gain applauses which he cannot keep; so that scarcely can two persons meet, but one is offended or diverted by the ostentation of the other." Johnson: Rambler #189 (January 7, 1752) Link 1,442. Lying; Posturing "The traveller who describes cities which he has never seen; the squire who, at his return from London, tells of his intimacy with nobles, to whom he has only bowed in the park or coffee-house; the author who entertains his admirers with stories of the assistance which he gives to wits of a higher rank; the city dame who talks of her visits to at great houses where she happens to know the cookmaid, are surely such harmless animals as truth herself may be content to despise without desiring to hurt them." Johnson: Rambler #189 (January 7, 1752) Link 1,466. Posturing; Poverty "Vanity has perhaps contributed to this impropriety of style*. He that wishes to become a philosopher at a cheap rate easily gratifies his ambition by submitting to poverty when he does not feel it, and by boasting his contempt of riches, when he has already more than he enjoys." Johnson: Rambler #202 (February 22, 1752) *Literary style whereby poverty is glorified (F. Lynch) Link 1,555. Posturing; Vanity "Every man in the journey of life takes ... advantage of the ignorance of his fellow travellers, disguises himself in counterfeited merit, and hears those praises with complacency which his conscience reproaches him for accepting. Every man deceives himself while he thinks he is deceiving others; and forgets that the time is at hand when every illusion shall cease, when fictitious excellence shall be torn away, and all must be shown to all in their real estate." Johnson: Adventurer #84 (August 25, 1753) Link