"The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape."

Experience

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Thematic Reflection

This quotation examines the core nature of Experience as articulated by Samuel Johnson. Within historical and literary traditions, reflections on Experience provide actionable mental models, challenging individuals to evaluate personal ethics, self-discipline, and daily actions.

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About Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson, often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer and polymath who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The work for which he is best known is his 42,733-entry Dictionary of the English Language (1755). For this and other contributions in and to the English language, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has called him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".

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More by Samuel Johnson

"Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."

— Samuel Johnson
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"Treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle."

— Samuel Johnson
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"It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality."

— Samuel Johnson
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"Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others."

— Samuel Johnson
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More about Experience

"I feel the feminist movement has excluded black women. You cannot talk about being black and a woman within traditional feminist dialogue."

— Katori Hall
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"I don't have a problem with Werner Herzog."

— Abel Ferrara
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"It was Julie Burchill who decreed that, beyond a certain age, a man should not be seen in a leather jacket."

— Arthur Smith
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"What a good thing Adam had. When he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before."

— Mark Twain
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