First Known When Lost: "The Absurdity Of Stretching Out Our Arms Incessantly To Grasp That Which We Cannot Keep"

First Known When Lost: "The Absurdity Of Stretching Out Our Arms Incessantly To Grasp That Which We Cannot Keep"
Excerpt:
Every man has experienced, how much of this ardour has been remitted, when a sharp or tedious sickness has set death before his eyes. The extensive influence of greatness, the glitter of wealth, the praises of admirers, and the attendance of supplicants, have appeared vain and empty things, when the last hour seemed to be approaching; and the same appearance they would always have, if the same thought was always predominant. We should then find the absurdity of stretching out our arms incessantly to grasp that which we cannot keep, and wearing out our lives in endeavours to add new turrets to the fabrick of ambition, when the foundation itself is shaking, and the ground on which it stands is mouldering away."

Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, Number 17 (May 15, 1750).