Quotes by Johnson, Samuel

Those who attain to any excellence commonly spend life in some single >>

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world. >>

Piety practiced in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert >>

Quotations about History and Historians

History is little more than the register of the crimes, follies and mi >>

History is but a confused heap of facts. >>

The main thing is to make history, not to write it. >>

Great abilities are not requisite for an Historian; for in historical composition, all the greatest powers of the human mind are quiescent. He has facts ready to his hand; so there is no exercise of invention. Imagination is not required in any degree; only about as much as is used in the lowest kinds of poetry. Some penetration, accuracy, and coloring, will fit a man for the task, if he can give the application which is necessary.

Johnson, Samuel