--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The mental disease of the present…" description: "\"The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition to rely wholly ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/samuel-johnson-50_ancestor_the-mental-disease-of-the-present-genera_2630561.png" --- # The mental disease of the present generation is impatience… ![“The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition to rely wholly upon unassisted genius and natural sagacity. The wits of these happy days have discovered a way to fame, which the dull caution of our laborious…” quote by Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/samuel-johnson-50_ancestor_the-mental-disease-of-the-present-genera_2630561.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/samuel-johnson-50_ancestor_the-mental-disease-of-the-present-genera_2630561.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e70/samuel-johnson-50_ancestor_the-mental-disease-of-the-present-genera_2630561.png) > “The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition to rely wholly upon unassisted genius and natural sagacity. The wits of these happy days have discovered a way to fame, which the dull caution of our laborious ancestors durst never attempt; they cut the knots of sophistry, which it was formerly the business of years to untie, solve difficulties by sudden irradiations of intelligence, and comprehend long processes of argument by immediate intuition.” [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Critiques modern impatience and overreliance on quick insight over deep study of ancient wisdom. **In simple terms:** Modern impatience neglects deep study. Key Takeaway Value slow, thorough learning. Themes patience wisdom education Mood reflective serious Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - self‑study - mentorship programs Key Concepts philosophy historical knowledge critical analysis Questions to Reflect On - How can you balance intuition with study? - What ancient teachings could you explore? A Different Perspective May idealize past methods. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ancestor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancestor/) [Ancient](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancient/) [Ancient wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ancient-wisdom/) [Argument](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/argument/) [Arrogance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arrogance/) [Caution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/caution/) [Contempt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/) [Disease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disease/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Fame](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fame/) [Generations](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generations/) [Genius](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/genius/) [Happy day](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happy-day/) [Happy days](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/happy-days/) [Impatience](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/impatience/) [Intuition](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intuition/) [Mental Disease](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mental-disease/) [Process](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/process/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Sagacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sagacity/) [Sophistry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sophistry/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) [Wit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wit/) ## Related quotes > [The mental disease of the present generation is impatience of study, contempt of the great masters of ancient wisdom, and a disposition to rely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-mental-disease-of-the-present-generation-is-impatience-of-study/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Criticism, though dignified from the earliest ages by the labours of men eminent for knowledge and sagacity, has not yet attained the certainty and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/criticism-though-dignified-from-the-earliest-ages-by-the-labours-of/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [ The very term \['mental disease'\] is nonsensical, a semantic mistake. 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Fuller Torrey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-fuller-torrey/) > [Narcissist: psychoanalytic term for the person who loves himself more than his analyst; considered to be the manifestation of a dire mental disease whose…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-szasz/narcissist-psychoanalytic-term-for-the-person-who-loves-himself-more/) [Thomas Szasz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-szasz/) > [Among all mental diseases that have been systematically inoculated into the human cranium, the religious pest is the most abominable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johann-most/among-all-mental-diseases-that-have-been-systematically-inoculated/) [Johann Most](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johann-most/) > [“Someone who has a poverty consciousness, which is a mental disease, can change their habitual way of thinking if they are determined to do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-dines/someone-who-has-a-poverty-consciousness-which-is-a-mental-disease-can/) [Christopher Dines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-dines/) > [Pessimism is mental disease. It means illness in the person who voices it, and in the society which produces that person.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/upton-sinclair/pessimism-is-mental-disease-it-means-illness-in-the-person-who-voices/) [Upton Sinclair](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/upton-sinclair/) > [“Idealism is a most potent medicine for these self-created mental diseases. It will successfully drive away devils and spirits that frequent ignorant minds, just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaiten-nukariya/idealism-is-a-most-potent-medicine-for-these-self-created-mental/) [Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaiten-nukariya/) > [No words can express the depth of my hate for those who pick on people with mental diseases. You are the worst humanity has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/no-words-can-express-the-depth-of-my-hate-for-those-who-pick-on/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Rodney is fifty four and he has some mental disease where they become all paranoid. Granted he spent his life as a vampire slayer…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cyma-rizwaan-khan/rodney-is-fifty-four-and-he-has-some-mental-disease-where-they-become/) [Cyma Rizwaan Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cyma-rizwaan-khan/) > [A man's concern, even his despair, over the worthwhileness of life is an existential distress but by no means a mental disease.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/viktor-e-frankl/a-man-s-concern-even-his-despair-over-the-worthwhileness-of-life-is/) [Viktor E. Frankl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/viktor-e-frankl/) > [Modern historians have suggested that in his last years he (Richard II) was overtaken by mental disease, but that is only a modern view…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/modern-historians-have-suggested-that-in-his-last-years-he-richard-ii/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [Love: a grave mental disease.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/plato/love-a-grave-mental-disease/) [Plato](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/plato/) > [Why, when you have a mental disease, is it always considered an act of imagination? Why is it that every organ in your body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruby-wax/why-when-you-have-a-mental-disease-is-it-always-considered-an-act-of/) [Ruby Wax](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruby-wax/) > [“10. Idealism is a Potent Medicine for Self-created Mental Disease. In so far as Buddhist idealism refers to the world of sense, in so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kaiten-nukariya/10-idealism-is-a-potent-medicine-for-self-created-mental-disease-in/) [Kaiten Nukariya](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kaiten-nukariya/) ## More by Samuel Johnson > [The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-size-of-a-man-s-understanding-might-always-be-justly-measured-by/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/pound-st-paul-s-church-into-atoms-and-consider-any-single-atom-it-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [You can never be wise unless you love reading.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/you-can-never-be-wise-unless-you-love-reading/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [If our aim is to praise, we should forget to criticize; if our aim is to criticize, we should remember to praise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/if-our-aim-is-to-praise-we-should-forget-to-criticize-if-our-aim-is/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [All theory is against free will; all experience is for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/all-theory-is-against-free-will-all-experience-is-for-it/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Had I learned to fiddle, I should have done nothing else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/had-i-learned-to-fiddle-i-should-have-done-nothing-else/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/it-is-as-foolish-to-make-experiments-upon-the-constancy-of-a-friend/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/resolve-not-to-be-poor-whatever-you-have-spend-less-poverty-is-a/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-basis-of-all-excellence-is-truth-he-that-professes-love-ought-to/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Words are daughters of earth but ideas are sons of heaven.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/words-are-daughters-of-earth-but-ideas-are-sons-of-heaven/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [“The composition of Shakespeare is a forest, in which oaks extend in the air, interspersed sometimes with weeds and brambles, and sometimes giving shelting…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/the-composition-of-shakespeare-is-a-forest-in-which-oaks-extend-in/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [“The cherubim were never intended as an object of worship, because they were only the appendices to another thing. 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Our cousins and ancestors were no less curious than we are,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/going-where-no-man-has-gone-before-is-more-difficult-than-it-sounds/) [N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/) > [I use the phrase 'sibling society' to suggest a culture fundamentally without fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, or ancestors. The thinking is horizontal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bly/i-use-the-phrase-sibling-society-to-suggest-a-culture-fundamentally/) [Robert Bly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bly/) > [“A very long time ago, some 2.5 million years B.C., the mother of human species as we know it, our ultimate ancestor, appeared in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/norman-f-cantor/a-very-long-time-ago-some-2-5-million-years-b-c-the-mother-of-human/) [Norman F. 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