Quote #31

Cold approbation gave the ling'ring bays, For those who durst not censure, scarce could praise.

More from Samuel Johnson

  1. When learning's triumph o'er her barb'rous foes First reared the stage, immortal Shakespeare rose; Each change of many-colored life he drew…
  2. Declamation roared, while Passion slept.
  3. Ah! let not Censure term our fate our choice, The stage but echoes back the public's voice; The drama's laws the drama's patrons give, For …
  4. He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
  5. Let observation with extensive view Survey mankind, from China to Peru.
  6. A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.
  7. Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause a while from learning to be wise. There mark what ills the scholar's life assail -…
  8. I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.

All Samuel Johnson quotes