Quote#Work
Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes
Quote bySamuel Johnson · 1709–1784
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), Line 157.
English (original)
Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause a while from learning to be wise. There mark what ills the scholar's life assail — Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
— Samuel Johnson
More from Samuel Johnson
Unmoved though Witlings sneer and Rivals rail, Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail. He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain. With merit needless, and without it vain. In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to trust: Ye Fops, …
This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confessed — Slow rises worth, by poverty depressed.
The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life.
By Numbers here from Shame or Censure free, All Crimes are safe, but hated Poverty. This, only this, the rigid Law persues, This, only this, provokes the snarling Muse.
Of all the Griefs that harrass the Distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful Jest
A thousand horrid Prodigies foretold it. A feeble government, eluded Laws, A factious Populace, luxurious Nobles, And all the maladies of stinking states.