"My third observation is, that pain of every kind generally makes a deeper impression on the imagination than pleasure does, and is longer retained by the memory."
— Campbell, George (1719-1796)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell
Date
1776
Metaphor
"My third observation is, that pain of every kind generally makes a deeper impression on the imagination than pleasure does, and is longer retained by the memory."
Metaphor in Context
My third observation is, that pain of every kind generally makes a deeper impression on the imagination than pleasure does, and is longer retained by the memory. It is a common remark of every people and of every age, and consequently hath some foundation in human nature, that benefits are sooner forgotten than injuries, and favours than affronts. Those who are accustomed to attend the theatre will be sensible, that the plots of the best tragedies which they have witnessed, are better remembered by them, than those of the most celebrated comedies. And indeed every body that reflects may be satisfied, that no story takes a firmer hold of the memory than a tale of woe. In civil history, as well as in biography, it is the disastrous and not the joyous events, which are oftenest recollected and retailed.
(I, p. 319)
(I, p. 319)
Categories
Provenance
C-H Lion
Citation
Only 1 entry in ESTC (1776).
The Philosophy of Rhetoric. By George Campbell, 2 vols. (London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1776). <Link to ESTC>
The Philosophy of Rhetoric. By George Campbell, 2 vols. (London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1776). <Link to ESTC>
Date of Entry
07/02/2013
