Johnson Most of the world's troubles seem to come from people who are too busy. If only politicians and scientists were lazier, how much happier we all should be. No, Sir, there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn. The man who puts politics first is not fit to be called a civilized being, let alone a Christian. The healthy stomach is nothing if not conservative.
Few radicals have good digestions.
The essence of Toryism is enjoyment. Men that can have communication in nothing else can sympathetically eat together, can still rise into some glow of brotherhood over food and wine. Carlyle Nothing surpasses the evidence that civilization was in America, than the series of letters exchanged between Jefferson and John Adams, during the decade of reconciliation after their disagreement. All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter. The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but obtainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.