"There are few things that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that we still have the power of ingratiating ourselves with the fair sex"
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Vanity doesn’t retire; it just learns to speak in politer sentences. Johnson’s line skewers a particularly stubborn male delusion: that age may steal stamina, status, even relevance, but it shouldn’t be allowed to steal flirtation. The comedy comes from the courtly phrasing - “ingratiating ourselves,” “the fair sex” - which mimics the genteel manners of Johnson’s world while quietly exposing their engine: male desire for approval, and the belief that approval is still obtainable on demand.
The intent is less romantic than diagnostic. Johnson isn’t praising lifelong charm; he’s marking how unwillingly men surrender the story in which they remain the protagonist of women’s attention. “Supposition” is the knife. It admits the thing might never have been true in the first place, only sustained by habit, social privilege, and selective memory. Advanced age doesn’t just bring physical decline; it brings a reckoning with how much of one’s identity was propped up by the possibility of being wanted.
The subtext is also about power. “Ingratiating” is transactional: the performance of wit, gallantry, and cultural competence as a way to extract favor. Johnson, a master of social observation, hints that the need to feel alluring is bound up with the need to feel in control. Even as the body weakens, the ego insists on one last jurisdiction.
Context matters: 18th-century London’s salon culture rewarded conversational dominance and masculine display. Johnson, who knew the theater of reputation intimately, turns that social game into a moral x-ray - amused, unsentimental, and a little cruel in the way good truth often is.
The intent is less romantic than diagnostic. Johnson isn’t praising lifelong charm; he’s marking how unwillingly men surrender the story in which they remain the protagonist of women’s attention. “Supposition” is the knife. It admits the thing might never have been true in the first place, only sustained by habit, social privilege, and selective memory. Advanced age doesn’t just bring physical decline; it brings a reckoning with how much of one’s identity was propped up by the possibility of being wanted.
The subtext is also about power. “Ingratiating” is transactional: the performance of wit, gallantry, and cultural competence as a way to extract favor. Johnson, a master of social observation, hints that the need to feel alluring is bound up with the need to feel in control. Even as the body weakens, the ego insists on one last jurisdiction.
Context matters: 18th-century London’s salon culture rewarded conversational dominance and masculine display. Johnson, who knew the theater of reputation intimately, turns that social game into a moral x-ray - amused, unsentimental, and a little cruel in the way good truth often is.
Quote Details
| Topic | Aging |
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