The care of the critic should be to distinguish error from inability, faults of inexperience from defects of nature.
Samuel JohnsonI am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.
Samuel JohnsonThe liberty of the press is a blessing when we are inclined to write against others, and a calamity when we find ourselves overborne by the multitude of our assailants.
Samuel JohnsonCriticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a critic.
Samuel JohnsonIt was the maxim, I think, of Alphonsus of Aragon, that dead counsellors are safest. The grave puts an end to flattery and artifice, and the information we receive from books is pure from interest, fear, and ambition. Dead counsellors are likewise most instructive, because they are heard with patience and with reverence.
Samuel Johnson