Can we ever say with true confidence what lies ahead?
Tag: samuel johnson
The pedants strike back?
How does pedantry make you feel? Are you a current, reformed or relapsed pedant? Is there a pedant in your life?
Seven books that mean the world to me
What seven books mean the most to you? This is my selection of seven books that mean the world to me right now – a mix of current raves and lifelong faves. At the start of this year, my friend Steve Tovey tagged me in a social media challenge to share covers of seven books that […]
#SaturdaySix August 2018: India, Ian McKellen, Iron Maiden, ice lollies
India, Ian McKellen and Iron Maiden all feature in this #SaturdaySix summer special. This is my monthly round-up of six things that have grabbed my attention over the past month.
A good quarter-century?
How would you summarise the last 25 years of your life? Or yesterday? What would make tomorrow better? What counts is not the time, but how you spend it. The past is alive. Most gents, as they age (as the snow settles on the peaks, to borrow a lovely phrase I heard the other day), […]
“Consider, sir…”: Samuel Johnson puts things in perspective
Things getting too much for you? People have always felt that way. Let us please hop back to the eighteenth century, for Dr Johnson’s very sage advice on how to put our day-to-day problems into perspective: “Consider, Sir, how insignificant this will appear a twelvemonth hence.” You can find this wonderful quotation in Boswell’s Life […]