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The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius

This volume encompasses a wide array of Samuel Johnson's literary works, showcasing his contributions to English literature. It includes his famous dictionary, essays, and other writings, along with an insightful essay that delves into his life and the influence of his genius on the literary world. more

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Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson was an English writer, poet, and lexicographer, renowned for his comprehensive English dictionary, 'A Dictionary of the English Language', published in 1755. His distinctive writing style and wit have cemented his place as a significant figure in the history of English literature. more

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“If an author be supposed to involve his thoughts in voluntary obscurity, and to obstruct, by unnecessary difficulties, a mind eager in the pursuit of truth; if he writes not to make others learned, but to boast the learning which he possesses himself, and wishes to be admired rather than understood, he counteracts the first end of writing, and justly suffers the utmost severity of censure, or the more afflicting severity of neglect.”

IfsWritingMindFirstsEndsSufferingWishUnderstoodDifficultyPursuitNeglectUnnecessaryBoastObscurityCensureSeverity
Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
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“Few of those who fill the world with books, have any pretensions to the hope either of pleasing or instructing. They have often no other task than to lay two books before them, out of which they compile a third, without any new material of their own, and with very little application of judgment to those which former authors have supplied.”

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Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, L. L. D.: In Twelve Volumes
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“Truth, like beauty, varies its fashions, and is best recommended by different dresses to different minds; and he that recalls the attention of mankind to any part of learning which time has left behind it, may be truly said to advance the literatures of his own age. As the manners of nations vary, new topicks of persuasion become necessary, and new combinations of imagery are produced; and he that can accommodate himself to the reigning taste, may always have readers who perhaps would not have looked upon better performances.”

WritingMindMaySaidDifferentAgeLiteratureLeftNationsBehindsAttentionMankindFashionReaderTastePerformancesDressesMannersCombinationRecallsPersuasionLeft BehindImageryVaryAccommodateDifferent Minds
Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
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“There are three distinct kind of judges upon all new authors or productions; the first are those who know no rules, but pronounce entirely from their natural taste and feelings; the second are those who know and judge by rules; and the third are those who know, but are above the rules. These last are those you should wish to satisfy. Next to them rate the natural judges; but ever despise those opinions that are formed by the rules.”

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Book:The critical opinions of Samuel Johnson
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“Nothing detains the reader's attention more powerfully than deep involutions of distress, or sudden vicissitudes of fortune; and these might be abundantly afforded by memoirs of the sons of literature. They are entangled by contracts which they know not how to fulfill, and obliged to write on subjects which they do not understand. Every publication is a new period of time, from which some increase or declension of fame is to be reckoned. The gradations of a hero's life are from battle to battle, and of an author's from book to book.”

KnowsWritingBookMightLiteratureAttentionSubjectsSonReaderHeroPeriodsBattleFameIncreaseFortuneMemoirContractsDistressObligedPublicationVicissitudes
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius
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