—“Mr. Johnson, (said I) I do indeed come from Scotland, but I cannot help it.”
—“That, Sir, I find, is what a very great many of your countrymen cannot help.”
May 16 is Biographers Day – marking the 1st meeting of James Boswell & Samuel Johnson in 1763
"Voting isn’t marriage - it’s public transport. You are not waiting for “the one” who is absolutely perfect."
With this metric, is even marriage like marriage? Do people believe there is exactly one person out of seven billion that is your soulmate and you have to find them?
Dr. Johnson also had some wisdom on the idea of "The One":
Boswell: "Pray, Sir, do you not suppose that there are fifty women in the world, with any one of whom a man may be as happy, as with any one woman in particular?" Johnson: "Ay, Sir, fifty thousand."
"The Church does not superstitiously observe days, merely as days, but as memorials of important facts. Christmas might be kept as well upon one day of the year as another; but there should be a stated day for commemorating the birth of our Saviour, because there is danger that what may be done on any day, will be neglected."
Great, loving essay on Samuel Johnson by Henry Oliver, thank you for the link.
Oliver is right, there isn't one special book that defines Johnson, each of his works somehow feels a little unremarkable in isolation. It's Johnson's tone, the reflective posture, that make him.
And Oliver callling Johnson the JS Bach of English prose is ingenious. Jup, Johnson is the Bach of English prose.
@litstudies
Was Boswell just an idiot who had the good fortune to meet Johnson and write his biography? Or is this “Samuel Johnson” actually a brilliant dramatic character created by Boswell?