John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
4076 Samuel Johnson 1709-1784 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 4076 |
| AUTHOR: | Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) |
| QUOTATION: | I remember a passage in Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield,” which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: “I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing.”… There was another fine passage too which he struck out: “When I was a young man, being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. But I soon gave this over; for I found that generally what was new was false.” |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Life of Johnson (Boswell). 1 Vol. vii. Chap. viii. 1779. |
| Note 1. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back] |