The World is full of Misery and Heartbreak, Pain Sickness and oppression

However among the effects this breathing is father of is that tremendous one of sharpening one's vision into the heart an natures of Man- of convincing ones nerves that the World is full of Misery and Heartbreak, Pain Sickness and oppression - whereby this Chamber of Maiden Thought becomes gradually darken'd and at the same time on all sides of it many doors are set open - but all dark - leading to dark passages - We see not the ballance of good and evil. We are in a Mist. We are now in that state - We feel the "burden of the Mystery."

To JH Reynolds, 3 May 1818

Get wisdom, get understanding

I mean to follow Solomon's directions of "get Wisdom - get understanding" - I find cavalier days are gone by. I find that I can have no enjoyment in the World but continual drinking of Knowledge - I find there is no worthy pursuit but the idea of doing some good for the world - some do it with their society - some with their wit - some with their benevolence - some with a sort of power of conferring pleasure and good humour on all they meet and in a thousand ways all equally dutiful to the command of Great Nature - there is but one way for me - the road lies through application study and thought. 

To John Taylor, 24 April 1818

the most unhappy hours in our lives are those in which we recollect times past to our own blushing

To JH Reynolds, 27 April 1818

The innumerable compositions and decompositions which take place between the intellect and its thousand materials before it arrives at that trembling delicate and snail-horn perception of Beauty

To BR Haydon, 8 April 1818

I never wrote one single Line of Poetry with the least Shadow of public thought 

To JH Reynolds, 9 April 1818

Young Men for some time have an idea that such a thing as happiness is to be had and therefore are extremely impatient under any unpleasant restraining. 

To John Taylor, 24 April 1818

It is impossible to know how far knowledge will console us for the death of a friend and the ill that flesh is heir to

To JH Reynolds, 3 May 1818

 

Daily Mail claims smoking will kill more people than live in the UK

They've gone too far. We know how much they love cancer scare stories, but this is ridiculous. For this Daily Mail story today, the headline claims that smoking will claim a hundred million lives in the UK. That's more than the actual population of the UK. The first paragraph of the story clarifies the situation. The Royal College of Physicians has said that 100 million years of life will be lost - averaging out at 10 years per smoker.

Even a cursory read of the story, or an ounce of common sense, should have pointed out that this headline is somewhat wide of the mark.