Sweet and Sour
The great Dr Johnson argues that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
before 1784
The great Dr Johnson argues that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
before 1784
Samuel Johnson, one of England’s literary giants, encourages us to employ as much courtesy and good cheer as we can muster in our dealings with those who disagree with us, appealing to no less than the Apostle St Peter for authority.
THAT a precept of courtesy is by no means unworthy of the gravity and dignity of an apostolical mandate,* may be gathered from the pernicious effects which all must have observed to have arisen from harsh strictness and sour virtue; such as refuses to mingle in harmless gaiety, or give countenance to innocent amusements, or which transacts the petty business of the day with a gloomy ferociousness that clouds existence.
Goodness of this character is more formidable than lovely; it may drive away vice from its presence, but will never persuade it to stay to be amended; it may teach, it may remonstrate, but the hearer will seek for more mild instruction.
To those, therefore, by whose conversation the heathens were to be drawn away from error and wickedness, it is the apostle's precept, that they be courteous, and live with the rest of the world with an amicable reciprocation of cursory civility, that Christianity might not be accused of making men less cheerful as companions, less sociable as neighbours, or less useful as friends.
This passage is extracted from a sermon on 1 Peter 3:8.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Sour virtue may drive away vice from its presence. It will never persuade it to stay to be amended.