"My parents, though otherwise not great philosophers, knew the force of early education, and took care that the blank of my understanding should be filled with impressions of the value of money."

— Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784)


Work Title
Date
February 4, 1752
Metaphor
"My parents, though otherwise not great philosophers, knew the force of early education, and took care that the blank of my understanding should be filled with impressions of the value of money."
Metaphor in Context
My parents, though otherwise not great philosophers, knew the force of early education, and took care that the blank of my understanding should be filled with impressions of the value of money. My mother used, upon all occasions, to inculcate some salutary axioms, such as might incite me "to keep what I had, and get what I could"; she informed me that we were in a world, where "all must catch that catch can"; and as I grew up, stored my memory with deeper observations; restrained me from the usual puerile expences, by remarking that "many a little made a mickle"; and, when I envied the finery of any of my neighbours, told me, that "Brag was a good dog, but Holdfast was a better."
Provenance
Reading at The Yale Digital Edition of the Works of Samuel Johnson.
Citation
Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, vol. 5 of The Works of Samuel Johnson, eds. W. J. Bate and Albrecht B. Strauss (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1969). <Link to www.yalejohnson.com>
Date of Entry
04/23/2018

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.