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Quotes from Lives of the English Poets — Samuel Johnson

1709–1784 England

← All quotes by Samuel Johnson

13 quotes

The true Genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth, by calling imagination to the help of reason.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

He that thinks himself capable of astonishing may write blank verse: but those that hope only to please must condescend to rhyme.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

That book is good in vain, which the reader throws away.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

The Churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

Those writers who lay on the watch for novelty, could have little hope of greatness; for great things cannot have escaped former observation.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

He delighted to tread upon the brink of meaning.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

His [[w:David Garrick|[David Garrick]]'s] death has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

'Paradise Lost' is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

In this work are exhibited, in a very high degree, the two most engaging powers of an author. New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

Language is the dress of thought.

Lives of the English Poets (1779)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Samuel Johnson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.