Johnsoniana: Life, Opinions, and Table-talk of Doctor JohnsonA. Boot, 1884 - 319 pages |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 15
Page 2
... equally for not knowing a thing as for neglecting to know it . He would ask a boy a question , and , if he did not answer it , he would beat him , without considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how to answer it . For ...
... equally for not knowing a thing as for neglecting to know it . He would ask a boy a question , and , if he did not answer it , he would beat him , without considering whether he had an opportunity of knowing how to answer it . For ...
Page 14
... equally capable of attaining : yet we find a prodigious difference in the powers of different men in that respect , after they are grown up , because their minds have been more or less exercised in it ; and I think the same cause will ...
... equally capable of attaining : yet we find a prodigious difference in the powers of different men in that respect , after they are grown up , because their minds have been more or less exercised in it ; and I think the same cause will ...
Page 24
... equally expert in whatever profession he has chosen to pursue . ' On Easter Sunday , April 19 , 1772 , General Paoli and Boswell paid him a visit before dinner . They talked of the notion that blind persons can distinguish colours by ...
... equally expert in whatever profession he has chosen to pursue . ' On Easter Sunday , April 19 , 1772 , General Paoli and Boswell paid him a visit before dinner . They talked of the notion that blind persons can distinguish colours by ...
Page 65
... equally happy , is not true . A peasant and a philoso- pher may be equally satisfied , but not equally happy . Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness . A peasant has not capacity for having equal happiness ...
... equally happy , is not true . A peasant and a philoso- pher may be equally satisfied , but not equally happy . Happiness consists in the multiplicity of agreeable consciousness . A peasant has not capacity for having equal happiness ...
Page 80
... equally applic- able to gentlemen who live in cities , and are of no profession . Mr. Strahan talked of launching into the great ocean of Lon- don , in order to have a chance for rising into eminence ; and ob- serving that many men were ...
... equally applic- able to gentlemen who live in cities , and are of no profession . Mr. Strahan talked of launching into the great ocean of Lon- don , in order to have a chance for rising into eminence ; and ob- serving that many men were ...
Common terms and phrases
advantage allowed answered appeared asked attention believe better Boswell called character church common consider conversation doubt drinking effect England English equally expressed fellow Garrick give given Goldsmith hand happy head hear human instance Italy John JOHNSON judge keep kind king knowledge known lady language laugh learning less literary live London look lord maintained manner master means mentioned merit mind nature never objections observed occasion once opinion particular perhaps person pleased poor present principles produced published reason remarked replied respect Scotland seemed society soon speak suppose sure talk tell thing thought told travels true truth whole wish woman wonder write written wrong young
Popular passages
Page 260 - If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
Page 194 - I believe, Sir, you have a great many. Norway, too, has noble wild prospects; and Lapland is remarkable for prodigious noble wild prospects. But, Sir, let me tell you, the noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads him to England!
Page 287 - Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality without which judgment is cold, and knowledge is inert; that energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates; the superiority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden.
Page 30 - Madness frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Smart showed the disturbance of his mind, by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid there are so many who do not pray that their understanding is not called in question.
Page 83 - Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.
Page 286 - In his Night Thoughts he has exhibited a very wide display of original poetry, variegated with deep reflections and striking allusions, a wilderness of thought, in which the fertility of fancy scatters flowers of every hue and of every odour. This is one of the few poems in which blank verse could not be changed for rhyme but with disadvantage.
Page 287 - If the flights of Dryden therefore, are higher, Pope continues longer on the wing. If of Dryden's fire the blaze is brighter, of Pope's the heat is more regular and constant. Dryden often surpasses expectation, and Pope never falls below it. Dryden is read with frequent astonishment, and Pope with perpetual delight.
Page 84 - They, whose narrow minds are contracted to the consideration of some one particular pursuit, view it only through that medium. A politician thinks of it merely as the seat of government in its different departments ; a grazier, as a vast market for cattle ; a mercantile man, as a place where a prodigious deal of business is done upon 'Change ; a...
Page 16 - All knowledge is of itself of some value. There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable, that I would not rather know it than not. In the same manner, all power, of whatever sort, is of itself desirable. A man would not submit to learn to hem a ruffle...
Page 287 - Pope had, in proportions very nicely adjusted to each other, all the qualities that constitute genius. He had Invention, by which new trains of events are formed, and new scenes of imagery displayed, as in the Rape of the Lock; and by which extrinsick and adventitious embellishments and illustrations are connected with a known subject, as in the Essay on Criticism...