Dr. Johnson was observed by a musical friend of his to be extremely inattentive at a concert, whilst a celebrated solo player was running up and down the divisions and subdivisions of notes upon his violin. His friend, to induce him to take greater notice of what was going on, told him how extremely difficult it was. 'Difficult, do you call it, Sir?' replied the Doctor; 'I wish it were impossible.'

Mrs. Digby told me that when she lived in London with her sister, Mrs. Brooke, they were every now and then honoured by the visits of Dr. Johnson. He called on…

The supreme end of education is expert discernment in all things - the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit, and to prefer the…

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.

They shouldn't even be considered. I don't know, man, they got a couple of hit songs, a catchy groove, great beat, I give them a 0.

'I've changed music four or five times. What have you done of any importance other than be white?'

People talk about Eric Clapton. What has he ever done except throw his baby off a fuckin' ledge and write a song about it?