"As a man, then, Johnson had a masculine understanding, clouded on important subjects by prejudice, a conscience pure beyond the ordinary measure of human virtue, a heart full of rugged benevolence, and a disregard only for those feelings in controversy or in conversation, of which he had not learnt the force, or which he thought himself obliged to wound. As a writer, he is memorable as one of those who effect a change in the general style of a nation, and have vigour enough to leave the stamp of their own peculiarities upon their language."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Essayists from EnglandPoets from EnglandPlaywrights from EnglandLexicographersLinguists from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
James Mackintosh, quoted in Memoirs of the Life of the Right Honourable Sir James Mackintosh, Vol. II, ed. Robert James Mackintosh (1835), p. 172
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Samuel Johnson
1709 – 1784
englischer Gelehrter, Schriftsteller, Kritiker und Lexikograph
358 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Samuel Johnson →
Related Quotes
"Il faut prêcher d'exemple."
"Fitted him to a T."
"The endearing elegance of female friendship."
"Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?"
"For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill."
"A jest breaks no bones."
"With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind, And makes the happiness she does not find."
"Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful."
"Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed."
"This singularity of his humour made him much observed."