1,020. Potential "Of the powers of the mind it is difficult to form an estimate; many have excelled Milton in their first essays who never rose to works like Paradise Lost." Johnson: Milton (Lives of the Poets) Link 1,029. Potential; Progress "It is pleasant to see great works in their seminal state pregnant with latent possibilities of excellence; nor could there be any more delightful entertainment than to trace their gradual growth and expansion, and to observe how they sometimes suddenly advanced by accidental hints, and sometimes slowly improved by steady meditation." Johnson: Milton (Lives of the Poets) Link 1,166. Fame; Old Age; Potential "It is not uncommon for those who at their first entrance into the world were distinguished for attainments or abilities, to disappoint the hopes which they had raised, and to end in neglect and obscurity that life which they began in honour. To the long catalogue of the inconveniences of old age, which moral and satirical writers have so copiously displayed, may be often added the loss of fame." Johnson: Rambler #127 (June 4, 1751) Link 1,647. Potential; Success "Man can only form a just estimate of his own actions, by making his power the test of his performance, by comparing what he does with what he can do. Whoever steadily perseveres in the exertion of all his faculties, does what is great with respect to himself; and what will not be despised by Him, who has given to all created beings their different abilities: he faithfully performs the task of life, within whatever limits his labours may be confined, or how soon soever they may be forgotten." Johnson: Adventurer #128 (January 26, 1754) Link 1,648. Potential "We have powers very scanty in their utmost extent, but which in different men are differently proportioned. Suitably to these powers we have duties prescribed, which we must neither decline for the sake of delighting ourselves with easier amusements, nor overlook in idle contemplation of greater excellence or more extensive comprehension." Johnson: Adventurer #128 (January 26, 1754) Link 1,725. Perspective; Potential "Great powers cannot be exerted but when great exigencies make them necessary. Great exigencies can happen but seldom; and therefore those qualities which have a claim to the veneration of mankind lie hid, for the most part, like subterranean treasures, over which the foot passes as on common ground, till necessity breaks open the golden cavern." Johnson: Idler #51 (April 7, 1759) Link