"Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good."
— Samuel Johnson

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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Original Language: English

Sources

Many people believe Samuel Johnson said it, but no one seems to have found it anywhere in his works or letters, or, for that matter any of the biographies of him by his contemporaries. I'm basing that on what's been included in Primary Source Media's CD-ROM of Johnson and Boswell. The CD-ROM includes all of Johnson's writings in the canon, Boswell's Life of Johnson and Tour of the Hebrides, as well as accounts from Hester Thrale, Sir John Hawkins, Fanny Burney, plus O.M. Brack's Early Biographie