Why Read, Why Write

Books without the knowledge of life are useless…for what should books teach but the art of living? —Dr. Samuel Johnson, A Johnson Sampler, edited by Henry Darcy Curwen, p. 44. The only end of writing…

Both/And

Like other works, [Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets] is concerned with the nature, and, more importantly, the limits of human achievement. It assumes what its surrounding works assume: The continuity and dignity of the…

How to Save Energy

But whatever be the motive of insult, it is always best to overlook it, for folly scarcely  can deserve resentment, and malice is punished by neglect. –Samuel Johnson, quoted in Paul Fussell, Samuel Johnson and the…

Acting on This Could Save Some Energy

But whatever be the motive of insult, it is always best to overlook it, for folly scarcely  can deserve resentment, and malice is punished by neglect.   –Dr. Samuel Johnson, quoted in Paul Fussell, Samuel…