#samueljohnson — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

There is nothing more dreadful to an author than neglect, compared with which reproach, hatred, and opposition are names of happiness; yet this worse, this meanest fate, every one who dares to write has reason to fear.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Source (1750-03-24), The Rambler, No. 2

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/24197…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #author #forgotten #ignored #insignificance #literarycriticism #neglect #notice #oblivion #obscurity #publicity #reaction #unread #writer #writing

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

There is nothing more dreadful to an author than neglect, compared with which reproach, hatred, and opposition are names of happiness; yet this worse, this meanest fate, every one who dares to write has reason to fear.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Source (1750-03-24), The Rambler, No. 2

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/24197…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #author #forgotten #ignored #insignificance #literarycriticism #neglect #notice #oblivion #obscurity #publicity #reaction #unread #writer #writing

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1750-03-24), The Rambler, No. 2

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/20042…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #advice #awareness #counsel #education #error #information #mistake #reminder #teaching #willfulignorance

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

   One cause which is not always observed of the insufficiency of riches is, that they very seldom make their owner rich. To be rich is to have more than is desired, and more than is wanted; to have something which may be spent without reluctance, and scattered without care, with which the sudden demands of desire may be gratified, the casual freaks of fancy indulged, the unexpected opportunities of benevolence improved.
   Avarice is always poor, but poor by her own fault.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-09-08), The Idler, No. 73

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/84440…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #avarice #desire #excess #greed #money #riches #satisfaction #sufficiency #value #wealth #wealthy

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

   One cause which is not always observed of the insufficiency of riches is, that they very seldom make their owner rich. To be rich is to have more than is desired, and more than is wanted; to have something which may be spent without reluctance, and scattered without care, with which the sudden demands of desire may be gratified, the casual freaks of fancy indulged, the unexpected opportunities of benevolence improved.
   Avarice is always poor, but poor by her own fault.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-09-08), The Idler, No. 73

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/84440…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #avarice #desire #excess #greed #money #riches #satisfaction #sufficiency #value #wealth #wealthy

The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they really are.
-- Samuel Johnson (1775)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Travel

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Vegetables #Market

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Of many writers who filled their age with wonder, and whose names we find celebrated in the books of their contemporaries, the works are now no longer to be seen, or are seen only amidst the lumber of libraries which are seldom visited, where they lie only to show the deceitfulness of hope, and the uncertainty of honour.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-06-02), The Idler, No. 59

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/84132…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #authors #bestseller #celebrity #fame #fashion #forgotten #history #honors #memoryhole #oblivion #obscurity #paeans #past #posterity #writers #popularity #popculture

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

That every man would be rich if a wish could obtain riches, is a position which I believe few will contest, at least in a nation like ours, in which commerce has kindled a universal emulation of wealth, and in which money receives all the honours which are the proper right of knowledge and of virtue.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-09-08), The Idler, No. 73

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/83923…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #avarice #greed #honors #knowledge #mercantilism #riches #virtue #wealth #wealthiness

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

That every man would be rich if a wish could obtain riches, is a position which I believe few will contest, at least in a nation like ours, in which commerce has kindled a universal emulation of wealth, and in which money receives all the honours which are the proper right of knowledge and of virtue.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-09-08), The Idler, No. 73

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/83923…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #avarice #greed #honors #knowledge #mercantilism #riches #virtue #wealth #wealthiness

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

The desires of man increase with his acquisitions; every step which he advances brings something within his view, which he did not see before, and which, as soon as he sees it, he begins to want. Where necessity ends, curiosity begins; and no sooner are we supplied with every thing that nature can demand, than we sit down to contrive artificial appetites.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-11-11), The Idler, No. 30

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/84130…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #acquisition #appetite #avarice #curiosity #desire #greed #need #want #wealth

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

The desires of man increase with his acquisitions; every step which he advances brings something within his view, which he did not see before, and which, as soon as he sees it, he begins to want. Where necessity ends, curiosity begins; and no sooner are we supplied with every thing that nature can demand, than we sit down to contrive artificial appetites.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-11-11), The Idler, No. 30

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/84130…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #acquisition #appetite #avarice #curiosity #desire #greed #need #want #wealth

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
-- Samuel Johnson (1775)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Knowledge

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #LavaFlow #Galapagos #Geology

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
-- Samuel Johnson (1775)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Knowledge

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #LavaFlow #Galapagos #Geology

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

The gloomy and the resentful are always found among those who have nothing to do or who do nothing.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-09-01), The Idler, No. 72

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/29381…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #bitterness #boredom #gloom #gloominess #idlehands #idleness #indolence #laziness #malcontent #meaninglessness #resentfulness #resentment #slacker #sullenness #uselessness #sloth

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

The gloomy and the resentful are always found among those who have nothing to do or who do nothing.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-09-01), The Idler, No. 72

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/29381…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #bitterness #boredom #gloom #gloominess #idlehands #idleness #indolence #laziness #malcontent #meaninglessness #resentfulness #resentment #slacker #sullenness #uselessness #sloth

Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Difficulty #HumanNature #Life

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #ChacoCanyon #Petroglyphs #NewMexico

Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Difficulty #HumanNature #Life

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #ChacoCanyon #Petroglyphs #NewMexico

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-26), The Idler, No. 58

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/20598…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #expectations #humor #jest #joke #merriment #reaction #surprise

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-26), The Idler, No. 58

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/20542…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #expectations #gladness #goodfortune #goodluck #happiness #pleasure #serendipity #surprise #unexpectedness

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Prudence operates on life in the same manner as rules on composition: it produces vigilance rather than elevation, rather prevents loss than procures advantage; and often escapes miscarriages but seldom reaches either power or honor. It quenches that ardor of enterprise by which every thing is done that can claim praise or admiration; and represses that generous temerity which often fails and often succeeds. Rules may obviate faults, but can never confer beauties; and prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/2133/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #caution #circumspection #commonsense #discretion #happiness #prudence #safety #shrewdness #takingcare #wariness

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Prudence operates on life in the same manner as rules on composition: it produces vigilance rather than elevation, rather prevents loss than procures advantage; and often escapes miscarriages but seldom reaches either power or honor. It quenches that ardor of enterprise by which every thing is done that can claim praise or admiration; and represses that generous temerity which often fails and often succeeds. Rules may obviate faults, but can never confer beauties; and prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-05-19), The Idler, No. 57

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/2133/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #caution #circumspection #commonsense #discretion #happiness #prudence #safety #shrewdness #takingcare #wariness

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

To put every man in possession of his own time, and rescue the day from the succession of usurpers, is beyond my power, and beyond my hope. Yet perhaps, some stop might be put to this unmerciful persecution, if all would seriously reflect, that whoever pays a visit that is not desired, or talks longer than the hearer is willing to attend, is guilty of an injury which he cannot repair, and takes away that which he cannot give.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-07-15), The Idler, No. 14

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/82877…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #buttonhole #conversation #imposition #interruption #leavealone #stealingtime #time #timesink

There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Community

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sunrise #LakeSantaFe #Florida

There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Community

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sunrise #LakeSantaFe #Florida

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

There is no kind of idleness by which we are so easily seduced as that which dignifies itself by the appearance of business, and by making the loiterer imagine that he has something to do which must not be neglected, keeps in perpetual agitation and hurries him from place to place.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1759-03-17), The Idler, No. 48

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/2157/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #activity #busyness #dosomething #idleness #keepingbusy

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Among the calamities of war, may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity encourages.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-11-11), The Idler, No. 30

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/5636/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #belief #credulity #deceit #deception #disinformation #meme #nationalhonor #nationalinterest #nationalism #patriotism #propaganda #publicrelations #spin #war

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Among the calamities of war, may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity encourages.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-11-11), The Idler, No. 30

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/5636/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #belief #credulity #deceit #deception #disinformation #meme #nationalhonor #nationalinterest #nationalism #patriotism #propaganda #publicrelations #spin #war

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

He that applauds him who does not deserve praise, is endeavoring to deceive the public; he that hisses in malice or sport, is an oppressor and a robber.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-10-07), The Idler, No. 25

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/26659…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #applause #critic #criticism #deception #editor #feedback #honesty #integrity #praise #review

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

He that applauds him who does not deserve praise, is endeavoring to deceive the public; he that hisses in malice or sport, is an oppressor and a robber.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-10-07), The Idler, No. 25

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/26659…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #applause #critic #criticism #deception #editor #feedback #honesty #integrity #praise #review

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Friendship, like love, is destroyed by long absence, though it may be increased by short intermissions.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-09-23), The Idler, No. 23

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/37697…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #absence #affection #break #friendship #intermission #love #meme #parting #separation

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavours with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-08-05), The Idler, No. 17

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/25830…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #criticism #deception #flaws #idleness #integrity #laziness #poverty #reproach #reputation #selfawareness #selfdeception #sloth

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavours with his utmost care to hide his poverty from others, and his idleness from himself.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-08-05), The Idler, No. 17

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/25830…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #criticism #deception #flaws #idleness #integrity #laziness #poverty #reproach #reputation #selfawareness #selfdeception #sloth

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-06-24), The Idler, No. 11

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/20468…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #chitchat #conversation #discussion #English #meeting #socializing #topic #weather

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1758-06-24), The Idler, No. 11

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/20468…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #chitchat #conversation #discussion #English #meeting #socializing #topic #weather

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

But when thoughts and words are collected and adjusted, and the whole composition at last concluded, it seldom gratifies the author, when he comes coolly and deliberately to review it, with the hopes which had been excited in the fury of the performance: novelty always captivates the mind; as our thoughts rise fresh upon us, we readily believe them just and original, which, when the pleasure of production is over, we find to be mean and common, or borrowed from the works of others, and supplied by memory rather than invention.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-03-02), The Adventurer, No. 138

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81911…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #author #creativity #disappointment #editing #novelty #originality #plagiarism #repetition #review #selfconsciousness #selfcriticism #selfdefeat #selfdeprecation #selfdoubt #selfjudgment #selfopinion #selfreflection #selfsabotage #writing

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Composition is, for the most part, an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the mind is dragged by necessity or resolution, and from which the attention is every moment starting to more delightful amusements.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-03-02), The Adventurer, No. 138

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/25299…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #author #distraction #drudgery #essayist #novelist #storyteller #writing #writer

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by the advantages of society: he that never compares his notions with those of others, readily acquiesces in his first thoughts, and very seldom discovers the objections which may be raised against his opinions; he, therefore, often thinks himself in possession of truth, when he is only fondling an errour long since exploded. He that has neither companions nor rivals in his studies, will always applaud his own progress, and think highly of his performances, because he knows not that others have equalled or excelled him. And I am afraid it may be added, that the student who withdraws himself from the world, will soon feel that ardour extinguished which praise or emulation had enkindled, and take the advantage of secrecy to sleep, rather than to labour.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81496…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #study #studygroup #argument #collaboration #company #debate #education #error #interaction #isolation #learning #motivation #realitycheck #selfcongratulations #selfcontrol #selfcorrection #selfcriticism #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfeducation #selfmotivation #selfpolicing #selfpraising #selfrationalization #selfrighteousness #selfsufficiency #society #solitude #truth

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

Even the acquisition of knowledge is often much facilitated by the advantages of society: he that never compares his notions with those of others, readily acquiesces in his first thoughts, and very seldom discovers the objections which may be raised against his opinions; he, therefore, often thinks himself in possession of truth, when he is only fondling an errour long since exploded. He that has neither companions nor rivals in his studies, will always applaud his own progress, and think highly of his performances, because he knows not that others have equalled or excelled him. And I am afraid it may be added, that the student who withdraws himself from the world, will soon feel that ardour extinguished which praise or emulation had enkindled, and take the advantage of secrecy to sleep, rather than to labour.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81496…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #study #studygroup #argument #collaboration #company #debate #education #error #interaction #isolation #learning #motivation #realitycheck #selfcongratulations #selfcontrol #selfcorrection #selfcriticism #selfdeception #selfdelusion #selfeducation #selfmotivation #selfpolicing #selfpraising #selfrationalization #selfrighteousness #selfsufficiency #society #solitude #truth

There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Community

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Panopainting #Graffiti

There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Community

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Panopainting #Graffiti

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

But though learning may be conferred by solitude, its application must be attained by general converse. He has learned to no purpose, that is not able to teach; and he will always teach unsuccessfully, who cannot recommend his sentiments by his diction or address.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81303…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #clarity #communication #education #interaction #learning #solitude #teaching

A quotation from Samuel Johnson

But though learning may be conferred by solitude, its application must be attained by general converse. He has learned to no purpose, that is not able to teach; and he will always teach unsuccessfully, who cannot recommend his sentiments by his diction or address.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Essay (1754-01-19), The Adventurer, No. 126

More about this quote: wist.info/johnson-samuel/81303…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #samueljohnson #clarity #communication #education #interaction #learning #solitude #teaching

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Patriotism

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sealions #Beach #Galapagos

“In his excitement at the prospect of the examined life Boswell invented modern biography. He wrote like hell, and the full fragrance, the authentic buzz, of his own life and period, such as it was, rises with Flemish exactness from every other sentence he chose to write down.”

—Andrew O’Hagan’s celebration of James Boswell in the London Review of Books, 5 Oct 2000

5/5

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v22/n19/andrew-o-hagan/self-hugging

#Scottish #literature #JamesBoswell #SamuelJohnson #18thCentury #biography

“A fool can utter a brilliant sentence but it seems quite rare for a fool to be able to write an admirable biography of seven or eight hundred pages”

Jorge Luis Borges asks, was Boswell just a lucky idiot? Or is his “Samuel Johnson” a brilliant literary creation?

4/5

https://www.nybooks.com/online/2013/07/28/lecture-johnson-and-boswell/

#Scottish #literature #JamesBoswell #SamuelJohnson #18thCentury #biography #Borges

“While in Rome, Boswell posed for a painting […] Above him, an owl perched absurdly on a branch. Somehow the painter captured the mixture of silliness and self-importance that made Boswell so engaging.”

🖼️: George Willison (1741–1797), 1765

3/5

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/1865/james-boswell-1740-1795-diarist-and-biographer-dr-samuel-johnson

#Scottish #literature #JamesBoswell #SamuelJohnson #18thCentury #biography #art #visualart #portrait

“I was intrigued by Johnson but found Boswell downright enthralling… an irresistible character in his own right, a contradictory, needy and sometimes infuriating man who drank too much, talked too much and preserved many of his indiscretions in writing”

2/5

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/james-boswells-scotland-106667503/

#Scottish #literature #JamesBoswell #SamuelJohnson #18thCentury #biography

What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Publishing

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Panopainting #Flowers #Junkyard #Minnesota

It is incident to physicians, I am afraid, beyond all other men, to mistake subsequence for consequence.
-- Samuel Johnson (1734)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Health #Physicians

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Vegetables #Market

The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they really are.
-- Samuel Johnson (1775)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Travel

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sunrise #LakeSantaFe #Florida

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
-- Samuel Johnson (1775)

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Knowledge

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Panopainting #Protest #MarchForOurLives #Florida

There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.
-- Samuel Johnson

⬆ #Wisdom #Quotes #SamuelJohnson #Community

⬇ #Photography #Panorama #Sunrise #SacandagaLake #Adirondacks #NewYork

Understanding

I have found you an argument; But I am not obliged to find you an understanding.

~ Samuel Johnson

slip:4a853.

Objections

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

~ Samuel Johnson

slip:4a688.

“I cannot well repeat how there I entered”*…

A collection– and consideration– of the illustrations inspired by Dante’s The Divine Comedy…

A man wakes deep in the woods, halfway through life. Far from home, unpermitted to return, his heart pierced by grief. He has strayed from the path. It’s a dark night of the soul, his crisis so great that death becomes a tempting end. And then, as wild beasts advance upon this easy prey, his prayers are answered. A guide appears, promising to show him the way toward paradise…

[This month] marks the seventh centenary of Dante Alighieri’s death, the Florentine poet who wrote The Divine Comedy, arguably our most ambitious Western epic. Eschewing Latin, the medieval currency of literature and scholarship, Dante wrote in his vernacular tongue, establishing the foundations for a standardized Italian language, and, by doing so, may have laid cultural groundwork for the unification of Italy.

The poet’s impact on literature cannot be overstated. “Dante’s influence was massive”, writes Erich Auerbach, “he singlehandedly established the expressive possibilities and the landscape of all poetry to come, and he did so virtually out of thin air”. And just as the classical Virgil served as Dante’s guide through the Inferno, Dante became a kind of Virgil for later writers. Chaucer cribbed his rhythm and images, while Milton’s Paradise Lost may have been actually lost, were it not for Dante as a shepherd. The Divina Commedia is a touchstone for works as diverse as fifteenth-century Castilian and Catalan verse; Gogol’s Dead Souls (1842); and Mary Shelley’s Italian Rambles (1844), which finds the poet at every turn:

There is scarcely a spot in Tuscany, and those parts of the North of Italy, which he visited, that Dante has not described in poetry that brings the very spot before your eyes, adorned with graces missed by the prosaic eye, and which are exact and in perfect harmony with the scene.

If Dante’s poetry summons landscapes before its reader’s eyes, artists have tried, for the last seven hundred years, to achieve another kind of evocation: rendering the Commedia in precise images, evocative patterns, and dazzling color. By Jean-Pierre Barricelli’s estimate, a complete catalogue of Commedia-inspired artworks would exceed 1,100 names. The earliest dated image comes from Florence in 1337, beginning the tradition soon after the poet’s death in 1321. Before long, there were scores of other illustrations…

A thoughtful consideration and a glorious collection: “700 Years of Dante’s Divine Comedy in Art,” from @PublicDomainRev.

* Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy

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As we visualize, we might send well-worded birthday greetings to Samuel Johnson; he was born on this date in 1709.  A poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor, and lexicographer, Johnson’s best-known work was surely  A Dictionary of the English Language, which he published in 1755, after nine years work– and which served as the standard for 150 years (until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary).  But Dr. Johnson, as he was known, is probably best remembered as the subject of what Walter Jackson Bate noted is “the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature”: James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson.  A famous aphorist, Johnson was the very opposite of a man he described to Boswell in 1784: “He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.”

Apropos Dante, Johnson observed “if what happens does not make us richer, we must welcome it if it makes us wiser.”

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The fountain of content

The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happines by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove.

~ Samuel Johnson

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