Tracing Quotations
Samuel Butler? Frances Burney? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Force can be used to compel a person to exhibit a specific behavior, but it is much more difficult to change the mind of a person. Compliance does not denote mental submission. The 17th-century poet Samuel Butler composed a couplet expressing this notion. Would you please help …
Continue reading “He That Complies Against His Will, Is of His Own Opinion Still”
Samuel Johnson? Frances Burney? Hester Lynch Piozzi? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: The superlative English lexicographer Samuel Johnson once defined sorrow as the rust of the soul which could be scoured away by engaging with life and becoming active. Would you please help me to find a citation. Quote Investigator: In 1750 Samuel Johnson began to …
Continue reading “Sorrow Is the Mere Rust of the Soul. Activity Will Cleanse and Brighten It”