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Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a critic.

Samuel Johnson

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Samuel Johnson
Age: 75 †
Born: 1709
Born: September 18
Died: 1784
Died: December 13
Biographer
Bookseller
Essayist
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Literary Critic
Literary Historian
Poet
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Lichfield
Staffordshire
Dr Johnson
Dr. Johnson
Great Moralist
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Critics
Formidable
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Criticism
Idleness
Nature
Weak
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Grow
Expense
May
Name
Expenses
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Study
Vanity
Made
Grows
Ignorant
Men
Small
Keeps

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Sir, as a man advances in life, he gets what is better than admiration, - judgement, to estimate things at their true value.
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Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content. No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring: no man can, at the same time, fill his cup from the source and from the mouth of the Nile.
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Since every man is obliged to promote happiness and virtue, he should be careful not to mislead unwary minds, by appearing to set too high a value upon things by which no real excellence is conferred.
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Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
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We often need reminding even if we do not often need educating.
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An author places himself uncalled before the tribunal of criticism and solicits fame at the hazard of disgrace.
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There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.
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Such are the vicissitudes of the world, through all its parts, that day and night, labor and rest, hurry and retirement, endear each other such are the changes that keep the mind in action: we desire, we pursue, we obtain, we are satiated we desire something else and begin a new pursuit.
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Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.
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Falsehood always endeavors to copy the mien and attitude of truth.
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When two Eglishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather.
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Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young.
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There is a certain race of men that either imagine it their duty, or make it their amusement, to hinder the reception of every work of learning or genius, who stand as sentinels in the avenues of fame, and value themselves upon giving Ignorance and Envy the first notice of a prey.
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It is good sense applied with diligence to what was at first a mere accident, and which by great application grew to be called, by the generality of mankind, a particular genius.
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The best part of every author is in general to be found in his book, I assure you.
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A blade of grass is always a blade of grass, whether in one country or another.
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The liberty of using harmless pleasure will not be disputed but it is still to be examined what pleasures are harmless.
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There is no book so poor that it would not be a prodigy if wholly made by a single man.
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A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, And touched nothing that he did not adorn.
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Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.
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