8 quotations linked to Rasselas by or associated with Samuel Johnson, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Happiness, choice, expectation, knowledge, character, friendship, ambition, uncertainty and the limits Johnson places on schemes for a perfectly satisfying life.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“Very few live by choice.”
People often inherit circumstances they did not select, which can make neighboring lives appear more desirable than their own.
Rasselas, Chapter XXI; spoken by Imlac while challenging the assumption that apparently wise people deliberately chose the condition they inhabit.
“To a poet nothing can be useless.”
Creative attention turns a wide range of experience into material; knowledge that seems unrelated can later supply images, comparisons or instruction.
Rasselas, Chapter X; spoken by Imlac in his account of learning the poet’s craft through broad observation.
“Example is always more efficacious than precept.”
Observed practice can teach more effectively than instruction alone because it shows principles operating in concrete action.
Rasselas, Chapter XXX; spoken by Imlac during a discussion of history, art and the practical use of studying what earlier people accomplished.
“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.”
Persistent effort combined with competence can overcome many barriers, although the wording stops short of claiming that every obstacle is conquerable.
Rasselas, Chapter XVIII; Imlac encourages the prince after acknowledging that strong restraints may still exist.
“The present state of things is the consequence of the former.”
Understanding present conditions requires tracing the earlier choices and causes that produced them rather than treating the present as isolated.
Rasselas, Chapter XXX; Imlac argues that studying history helps people understand the sources of present benefits and harms.
“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”
Large achievements often depend more on continued effort than on a single burst of power.
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia.
“Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.”
The novel resists fantasies of perfect circumstances by emphasizing that difficulty follows people across different places and conditions.
Rasselas, Chapter XVI; spoken by Imlac while comparing European life with the travelers’ expectations of happiness.
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”
Knowledge needs ethical direction, while good intentions need understanding; either quality becomes inadequate when separated from the other.
Chapter 41; the Astronomer explains why both competence and moral character are needed for trust.
