--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: (“No man but a blockhead ever wrote for…" description: "\"“(“No man but a blockhead ever wrote for any cause but money,” Samuel Johnson said.)”\" — Mary Karr" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/mary-karr-3335_blockhead_no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-an_830585.png" --- # (“No man but a blockhead ever wrote for any cause but… ![“(“No man but a blockhead ever wrote for any cause but money,” Samuel Johnson said.)” quote by Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/mary-karr-3335_blockhead_no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-an_830585.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/mary-karr-3335_blockhead_no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-an_830585.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/mary-karr-3335_blockhead_no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-an_830585.png) > ““(“No man but a blockhead ever wrote for any cause but money,” Samuel Johnson said.)”” [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Only those driven by profit write without conviction; true art requires purpose beyond money. **In simple terms:** Writing for money lacks depth. Key Takeaway Write for meaning, not just pay. Themes art integrity motivation economics Mood reflective critical Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - publishing - freelance writing - creative projects Key Concepts purpose-driven creation authenticity financial pressure Questions to Reflect On - What motivates your writing beyond income? - Can profit and purpose coexist? A Different Perspective Financial constraints can limit creative freedom. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Blockhead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blockhead/) [Money](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/money/) ## Related quotes > [No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-except-for-money/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [“Samuel Johnson said, ‘It is happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-humphrys/samuel-johnson-said-it-is-happier-to-be-sometimes-cheated-than-not-to/) [John Humphrys](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-humphrys/) > [That's what Samuel Johnson said: "Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think particularly fine, strike it out."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-laird/that-s-what-samuel-johnson-said-read-over-your-compositions-and/) [Nick Laird](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-laird/) > [“The fact that we had independently decided to sweep our apartments on that Sunday afternoon after spending the weekend together, I took as a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholson-baker/the-fact-that-we-had-independently-decided-to-sweep-our-apartments-on/) [Nicholson Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholson-baker/) > [“That’s the other thing I want to talk to you about,” Johnson said. “As you’ve been talking, we’ve been scanning your brain. See that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-steinberg/that-s-the-other-thing-i-want-to-talk-to-you-about-johnson-said-as/) [Gene Steinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-steinberg/) > [“We have talked long enough ... about civil rights,' Lyndon Johnson had said. 'It is time ... to write it in the books of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-caro/we-have-talked-long-enough-about-civil-rights-lyndon-johnson-had-said/) [Robert A. Caro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-caro/) > [“The Johnson family is an exceptionally well-off family that lives in a big, round home. One morning Mr. Johnson woke up and saw a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oyokids-publications/the-johnson-family-is-an-exceptionally-well-off-family-that-lives-in/) [OyoKids Publications](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oyokids-publications/) > [“NOT A GOOD MOVE, Mama.’ ‘Why not?’ said Emma. ‘Jim Knowles has never been supportive, and frankly I’ll be glad to be rid of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-archer/not-a-good-move-mama-why-not-said-emma-jim-knowles-has-never-been/) [Jeffrey Archer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-archer/) > [“As Dr. Johnson said: “God himself, sir, does not propose to judge man until the end of his days.” Why should you and I?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-carnegie/as-dr-johnson-said-god-himself-sir-does-not-propose-to-judge-man/) [Dale Carnegie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-carnegie/) > [A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/a-learned-blockhead-is-a-greater-blockhead-than-an-ignorant-one/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [I started freestyling with friends about eight or nine years ago. I started writing also around the same time, but didn't meet blockhead until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/i-started-freestyling-with-friends-about-eight-or-nine-years-ago-i/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [The vanity of teaching doth oft tempt a man to forget that he is a blockhead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-vanity-of-teaching-doth-oft-tempt-a-man-to-forget-that-he-is-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“Heart agitated with remains of former passion is most susceptible to a new one...How unpardonable would it have been in you to have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-withey/heart-agitated-with-remains-of-former-passion-is-most-susceptible-to/) [Lynne Withey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-withey/) > [I myself identify as a recovering Blockhead. You'd be surprised how many twenty- and thirty-something hipster chicks have the NKOTB skeleton in their closet,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diablo-cody/i-myself-identify-as-a-recovering-blockhead-you-d-be-surprised-how/) [Diablo Cody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diablo-cody/) > [Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/being-a-blockhead-is-sometimes-the-best-security-against-being/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) ## More by Mary Karr > [I do have a really good memory. I mean, like, I can remember all the phone numbers of everybody on the street I grew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-do-have-a-really-good-memory-i-mean-like-i-can-remember-all-the/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [Ninety percent of what's wrong with you could be cured with a hot bath, says God from the bowels of the subway. but we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/ninety-percent-of-what-s-wrong-with-you-could-be-cured-with-a-hot/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [I always say that a poet loves the world, and the prose writer needs to create an alternative world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-always-say-that-a-poet-loves-the-world-and-the-prose-writer-needs/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [Even the best of us are at least part-time bastards.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/even-the-best-of-us-are-at-least-part-time-bastards/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“And Meredith says that reminds her of a Camus novel, the one about the plague, and she tells the story of it, the tale…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/and-meredith-says-that-reminds-her-of-a-camus-novel-the-one-about-the/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [When people suffer, their relationships usually suffer as well. Period. And we all suffer because, as the Buddha says, that's the nature of being…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/when-people-suffer-their-relationships-usually-suffer-as-well-period/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [I'm not nearly smart enough or imaginative enough to tackle the novel form. Never happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-m-not-nearly-smart-enough-or-imaginative-enough-to-tackle-the-novel/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“Then it hits me. I’m actually kneeling before a toilet. The throne, as other drunks call it. How many drunken nights and slungover mornings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/then-it-hits-me-i-m-actually-kneeling-before-a-toilet-the-throne-as/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“I think about the story of Job I heard in Carol Sharp's Sunday school. How he sort of learned to lean into feeling hurt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-think-about-the-story-of-job-i-heard-in-carol-sharp-s-sunday-school/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [I believe in God, but even if you don't, you can believe in a self, the person who is innately who you are. Once…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-believe-in-god-but-even-if-you-don-t-you-can-believe-in-a-self-the/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [Love is the only passion which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/love-is-the-only-passion-which-includes-in-its-dreams-the-happiness/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [It strikes me that whatever advantages there are to being a boy--getting to stay out late and having other people wash your clothes and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/it-strikes-me-that-whatever-advantages-there-are-to-being-a-boy/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“I liked to call myself a poet and had affected a habit of reading classical texts (in translation, of course – I was a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/i-liked-to-call-myself-a-poet-and-had-affected-a-habit-of-reading/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [It turned out to be impossible for me to 'run away' in the sense other American teenagers did. Any movement at all was taken…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/it-turned-out-to-be-impossible-for-me-to-run-away-in-the-sense-other/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) > [“What hurts so bad about youth isn't the actual butt whippings the world delivers. It's the stupid hopes playacting like certainties.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/what-hurts-so-bad-about-youth-isn-t-the-actual-butt-whippings-the/) [Mary Karr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) [Explore all 133 Mary Karr quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/) ## More Blockhead quotes > [No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-except-for-money/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [A learned blockhead is a greater blockhead than an ignorant one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/a-learned-blockhead-is-a-greater-blockhead-than-an-ignorant-one/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) > [I myself identify as a recovering Blockhead. You'd be surprised how many twenty- and thirty-something hipster chicks have the NKOTB skeleton in their closet,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diablo-cody/i-myself-identify-as-a-recovering-blockhead-you-d-be-surprised-how/) [Diablo Cody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diablo-cody/) > [Being a blockhead is sometimes the best security against being cheated by a man of wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/being-a-blockhead-is-sometimes-the-best-security-against-being/) [Francois de La Rochefoucauld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) > [“Heart agitated with remains of former passion is most susceptible to a new one...How unpardonable would it have been in you to have been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-withey/heart-agitated-with-remains-of-former-passion-is-most-susceptible-to/) [Lynne Withey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-withey/) > [The vanity of teaching doth oft tempt a man to forget that he is a blockhead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-vanity-of-teaching-doth-oft-tempt-a-man-to-forget-that-he-is-a/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I started freestyling with friends about eight or nine years ago. I started writing also around the same time, but didn't meet blockhead until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/i-started-freestyling-with-friends-about-eight-or-nine-years-ago-i/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [Clairvoyant, n.: A person, commonly a woman, who has the power of seeing that which is invisible to her patron - namely, that he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/clairvoyant-n-a-person-commonly-a-woman-who-has-the-power-of-seeing/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [I have come to the conclusion never again to think of marrying, and for this reason, I can never be satisfied with anyone who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-have-come-to-the-conclusion-never-again-to-think-of-marrying-and/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [“Everyone calls him Blockhead No one sings his praises Or takes him to heart... That is the kind of person I want to be”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenji-miyazawa/everyone-calls-him-blockhead-no-one-sings-his-praises-or-takes-him-to/) [Kenji Miyazawa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenji-miyazawa/) > [I went to college in '94 and started freestyling a lot more and hearing how others did it, hearing styles from other regions, all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/i-went-to-college-in-94-and-started-freestyling-a-lot-more-and/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [“Every single person is a fool, insane, a failure, or a bad person to at least ten people.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mokokoma-mokhonoana/every-single-person-is-a-fool-insane-a-failure-or-a-bad-person-to-at/) [Mokokoma Mokhonoana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mokokoma-mokhonoana/) > [It is intolerable that it should be in the power of one blockhead to do so much mischief.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-james/it-is-intolerable-that-it-should-be-in-the-power-of-one-blockhead-to/) [Charles James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-james/) > [When there is sympathy, there needs but one wise man in a company and all are wise,--so, a blockhead makes a blockhead of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/when-there-is-sympathy-there-needs-but-one-wise-man-in-a-company-and/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read With loads of learned lumber in his head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/the-bookful-blockhead-ignorantly-read-with-loads-of-learned-lumber-in/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) [Browse all 27 Blockhead quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blockhead/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“(“No man but a blockhead ever wrote for any cause but money,” Samuel Johnson said.)”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mary Karr" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-any-cause-but-money-samuel/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Blockhead" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-any-cause-but-money-samuel/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/mary-karr-3335_blockhead_no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-an_830585.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/mary-karr-3335_blockhead_no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-an_830585.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/610/mary-karr-3335_blockhead_no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-an_830585.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“(“No man but a blockhead ever wrote for any cause but money,” Samuel Johnson said.)” — Mary Karr", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mary Karr", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-karr/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“(“No man but a blockhead ever...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-any-cause-but-money-samuel/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-karr/no-man-but-a-blockhead-ever-wrote-for-any-cause-but-money-samuel/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```