When I first collected these authorities, I was desirous that every quotation should be useful to some other end than the illustration… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects,… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, And touched nothing that he did not adorn. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
New arts are long in the world before poets describe them; for they borrow everything from their predecessors, and commonly derive very… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
...it will not always happen that the success of a poet is proportionate to his labor. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Words too familiar, or too remote, defeat the purpose of a poet. From those sounds which we hear on small or on… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The business of the poet, said Imlac, is to examine, not the individual, but the species. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The stream of Time, which is continually washing the dissoluble fabrics of other poets, passes without injury by the adamant of Shakespeare. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
To tell of disappointment and misery, to thicken the darkness of futurity, and perplex the labyrinth of uncertainty, has been always a… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The business of a poet is to examine not the individual but the species; to remark general properties and large appearances. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Poetry cannot be translated; and, therefore, it is the poets that preserve the languages; for we would not be at the trouble… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
When a poet mentions the spring, we know that the zephyrs are about to whisper, that the groves are to recover their… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
[The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The size of a man's understanding might always be justly measured by his mirth. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and consider any single atom; it is to be sure, good for nothing; but put all these atoms… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
If our aim is to praise, we should forget to criticize; if our aim is to criticize, we should remember to praise — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
The basis of all excellence is truth: he that professes love ought to feel its power. — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“The composition of Shakespeare is a forest, in which oaks extend in the air, interspersed sometimes with weeds and brambles, and sometimes giving shelting… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
“The cherubim were never intended as an object of worship, because they were only the appendices to another thing. But a thing is then… — Samuel Johnson Copy Share Image
![“[The poet] must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.” quote by Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/668/samuel-johnson-50_future-generation_the-poet-must-write-as-the-interpreter-o_3180253.jpg)
