Idler No. 34. Saturday, December 9, 1758. To illustrate one thing by its resemblance to another, has been always the most popular and efficacious art of instruction. There is indeed no other method of teaching that of which any one is ignorant, but by means of something already known; and a mind so enlarged by […]

Idler No. 35. Saturday, December 16, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Mr. Idler, If it be difficult to persuade the idle to be busy, it is likewise, as experience has taught me, not easy to convince the busy that it is better to be idle. When you shall despair of stimulating sluggishness to motion, I hope […]

Idler No. 38. Saturday, January 6, 1759. Since the publication of the letter concerning the condition of those who are confined in gaols by their creditors, an inquiry is said to have been made, by which it appears that more than twenty thousand[1] are at this time prisoners for debt. We often look with indifference […]

Idler No. 36. Saturday, December 23, 1758. The great differences that disturb the peace of mankind are not about ends, but means. We have all the same general desires, but how those desires shall be accomplished will for ever be disputed. The ultimate purpose of government is temporal, and that of religion is eternal happiness. […]

Idler No. 37. Saturday, December 30, 1758. Those who are skilled in the extraction and preparation of metals declare, that iron is every where to be found; and that not only its proper ore is copiously treasured in the caverns of the earth, but that its particles are dispersed throughout all other bodies. If the […]

Idler No. 24. Saturday, September 30, 1758. When man sees one of the inferior creatures perched upon a tree, or basking in the sunshine, without any apparent endeavour or pursuit, he often asks himself, or his companion, On what that animal can be supposed to be thinking? Of this question, since neither bird nor beast […]

Idler No. 25. Saturday, October 7, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Sir, I am a very constant frequenter of the playhouse, a place to which I suppose the Idler not much a stranger, since he can have no where else so much entertainment with so little concurrence of his own endeavour. At all other assemblies, he […]

Idler No. 26. Saturday, October 14, 1758. Mr. Idler, I never thought that I should write any thing to be printed; but having lately seen your first essay, which was sent down into the kitchen, with a great bundle of gazettes and useless papers, I find that you are willing to admit any correspondent, and […]

Idler No. 27. Saturday, October 21, 1758. It has been the endeavour of all those whom the world has reverenced for superior wisdom, to persuade man to be acquainted with himself, to learn his own powers and his own weakness, to observe by what evils he is most dangerously beset, and by what temptations most […]

Idler No. 28. Saturday, October 28, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Sir, It is very easy for a man who sits idle at home, and has nobody to please but himself, to ridicule or to censure the common practices of mankind; and those who have no present temptation to break the rules of propriety, may applaud […]

Idler No. 29. Saturday, November 4, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Sir, I have often observed, that friends are lost by discontinuance of intercourse without any offence on either part, and have long known, that it is more dangerous to be forgotten than to be blamed; I therefore make haste to send you the rest of […]

Idler No. 30. Saturday, November 11, 1758. The desires of man increase with his acquisitions; every step which he advances brings something within his view, which he did not see before, and which, as soon as he sees it, he begins to want. Where necessity ends, curiosity begins; and no sooner are we supplied with […]

Idler No. 16. Saturday, July 29, 1758. I paid a visit yesterday to my old friend Ned Drugget, at his country-lodgings. Ned began trade with a very small fortune; he took a small house in an obscure street, and for some years dealt only in remnants. Knowing that light gains make a heavy purse, he […]

Idler No. 17. Saturday, August 5, 1758. Surge tandem Carnifex[1].MAECENAS AD AUGUSTUM. The rainy weather, which has continued the last month, is said to have given great disturbance to the inspectors of barometers. The oraculous glasses have deceived their votaries; shower has succeeded shower, though they predicted sunshine and dry skies; and, by fatal confidence […]

Idler No. 18. Saturday, August 12, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Sir, It commonly happens to him who endeavours to obtain distinction by ridicule or censure, that he teaches others to practise his own arts against himself; and that, after a short enjoyment of the applause paid to his sagacity, or of the mirth excited by […]

Idler No. 19. Saturday, August 19, 1758. Some of those ancient sages that have exercised their abilities in the inquiry after the supreme good, have been of opinion, that the highest degree of earthly happiness is quiet; a calm repose both of mind and body, undisturbed by the sight of folly or the noise of […]

Idler No. 22. Saturday, September 16, 1758. Oh nomen dulce libertatis! Oh jus eximium nostra civitatis!CICERO. TO THE IDLER. Sir, As I was passing lately under one of the gates of this city, I was struck with horrour by a rueful cry, which summoned me to remember the poor debtors. The wisdom and justice of […]

Idler No. 23. Saturday, September 23, 1758. Life has no pleasure higher or nobler than that of friendship. It is painful to consider, that this sublime enjoyment may be impaired or destroyed by innumerable causes, and that there is no human possession of which the duration is less certain. Many have talked, in very exalted […]

Idler No. 20. Saturday, August 26, 1758. There is no crime more infamous than the violation of truth. It is apparent that men can be social beings no longer than they believe each other. When speech is employed only as the vehicle of falsehood, every man must disunite himself from others, inhabit his own cave, […]

Idler No. 21. Saturday, September 2, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Dear Mr. Idler, There is a species of misery, or of disease, for which our language is commonly supposed to be without a name, but which I think is emphatically enough denominated listlessness, and which is commonly termed a want of something to do. Of […]