"He that thinks with more extent than another will want words of larger meaning; he that thinks with more subtilty will seek for terms of more nice discrimination; and where is the wonder, since words are but the images of things, that he who never knew the original should not know the copies? Yet vanity inclines us to find faults any where rather than in ourselves. He that reads and grows no wiser, seldom suspects his own deficiency; but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood?"
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
No. 70 (18 August 1759)
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."