69. Consolation; Relativity;
Vanity
I mentioned the advice given us by philosophers, to console
ourselves, when distressed or embarrassed, by thinking of those
who are in a worse situation than ourselves. This, I observed,
could not apply to all, for there must be some who have nobody
worse than they are. Johnson: "Why, to be sure, Sir,
there are; but they don't know it. There is no being so poor and
so contemptible, who does not think there is somebody still
poorer, and still more contemptible."
Boswell: Life
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651. Consolation; Relativity
"We know that very little of the pain, or pleasure, which does
not begin and end in our senses, is otherwise than relative; we
are rich or poor, great or little, in proportion to the number
that excel us, or fall beneath us, in any of these respects;
and, therefore, a man, whose uneasiness arises from reflection on
any misfortune that throws him below those with whom he was once
equal, is comforted by finding that he is not yet lowest."
Johnson: Rambler #52 (September 15, 1750)
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774. Consolation; Old Age; Wealth
"The industry of man has ... not been wanting in endeavours to
procure comforts for these hours of dejection and melancholy, and
to gild the dreadful gloom with artificial light. The most usual
support of old age is wealth. He whose possessions are large,
and whose chests are full, imagines himself always fortified
against invasions on his authority. If he has lost all other
means of government, if his strength and his reason fail him, he
can at last alter his will; and, therefore, all that have hopes
must likewise have fears, and he may still continue to give laws
to such as have not ceased to regard their own interest.
This is, indeed, too frequently the citadel of the dotard, the
last fortress to which age retires, and in which he makes the
stand against the upstart race that seizes his domains, disputes
his commands, and cancels his prescriptions. But here, though
there may be safety, there is no pleasure; and what remains is
but a proof that more was once possessed."
Johnson: Rambler #69 (November 13, 1750)
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775. Children; Consolation; Old
Age
"Nothing seems to have been more universally dreaded by the
ancients than orbity, or want of children; and, indeed, to a man
who has survived all the companions of his youth, all who have
participated his pleasures and his cares, have been engaged in
the same events, and filled their minds with the same
conceptions, this full-peopled world is a dismal solitude. He
stands forlorn and silent, neglected or insulted, in the midst of
multitudes, animated with hopes which he cannot share, and
employed in business which he is no longer able to forward or
retard; nor can he find any to whom his life or death are of
importance, unless he has secured some domestic gratifications,
some tender employments, and endeared himself to some whose
interest and gratitude may unite them to him."
Johnson: Rambler #69 (November 13, 1750)
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