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Sir, what is Poetry? Why, Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is: but it is not easy to tell what it is.

— Samuel Johnson

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Source, in full

Letter to James Macpherson (20 June 1778). Quotation used as epigram to Władysław Tatarkiewicz, "Dwa pojęcia poezji" ("Two Concepts of Poetry"), in Tatarkiewicz's book, Parerga, Warsaw, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1978, pp. 20–38.

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Poetry

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When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

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

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A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.

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Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

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A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.

The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)

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Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.

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I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.

Michael Faraday

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Samuel Johnson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.