Samuel Johnson Quotes

Sir, what is Poetry? Why, Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is: but it is not easy to tell what it is.

Samuel Johnson

• Why
• Light
• Poetry

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Quotes to Explore

• The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.

  

  A. J. P. Taylor
  • Long
  • May
  • Age

• A real totalitarianism is at work in the world and wants to impose its views not only on Arab Muslims, but on the West. The same way that they veil women, Islamic radicals want to veil cartoons in the press.

  

  Patrick Chappatte
  • World
  • Work
  • Women

• I am a massive fan of early electronica like Steve Reich, Pat Metheny and Thomas Dolby. I used to be a big raver, too, so anything dance. I love ambient music like Tunng. I love acoustic and classical, too.

  

  Kate Fleetwood
  • Music
  • Like
  • Dance

• I sometimes read in a gossip column that I was at a party when I was in Europe at the time. It sometimes feels I've got a Doppelganger somewhere.

  

  Candace Bushnell
  • Time
  • Party
  • Gossip

• I find it hard to be labelled in this new 'super-rich' category because we all grew up with very little. The idea that 'to get rich is glorious' is really a new phenomenon. I certainly didn't grow up like that.

  

  Zhang Xin
  • Up
  • New
  • Rich

• I think, from the very beginning, I always knew that I needed to get out of Malaysia and do my thing somewhere else.

  

  Yuna
  • Think
  • Always
  • Beginning

• I almost took a job in Italy. It was really a great opportunity, but they didn't think I had enough international experience.

  

  Larry Brown
  • Great
  • Experience
  • Job

• This flattery has been rather slow in coming. I think all of sudden late in life now I'm getting some credit for what I've done. Which is gratifying, but it's kind of a little late.

  

  Jack Vance
  • Life
  • Done
  • Think

• I can't remember writing any of the songs that I've written.

  

  Fiona Apple
  • Writing
  • Remember
  • Songs

• I'm very happy with the choices I've been making and the people I've been working with. I hope I can continue along this path.

  

  Haley Bennett
  • People
  • Happy
  • Hope

• You just make sure you don't screw it up. It's going to work as long as you don't mess it up. Hopefully you have plenty of those moments in a big comedy.

  

  Harold Ramis
  • Up
  • Work
  • Long

• Everything I've ever written, I had a very distinct vision of what I wanted it to look like. But, other directors never do it that way.

  

  Dan Gilroy Breakfast Club
  • Never
  • Vision
  • Look

• You got to be rigorous in your appraisal system. The biggest cowards are managers who don't let people know where they stand.

  

  Jack Welch
  • People
  • Know
  • Stand

• That's just a symbol of how you should deal with a breakup. You can cry for a little bit, eat some ice cream, but I think, after that, it's like, get up, listen to some powerful music and do something that makes you happy, be productive.

  

  Sabrina Carpenter
  • Up
  • Music
  • Happy

• The kind of audience I'm speaking to is a very wide range of people.

  

  Haley Reinhart
  • People
  • Kind
  • Audience

• On the other hand, when I give it closer thought, I realize I'm not enough of a dictator to conduct an orchestra because it requires a pretty awful person. When you read these biographies of famous conductors, they are all awful people who fail in their private relationships.

  

  Eberhard Weber
  • People
  • Pretty
  • Hand

• I am ready to fight according to the rules, and I ask for the opportunity to prove myself.

  

  Yingluck Shinawatra
  • Opportunity
  • Myself
  • Fight

• It was an outdoor Shakespeare theater that I grew up at. That feels like home, and the place I'm always trying to figure out how to get to.

  

  Hamish Linklater
  • Up
  • Trying
  • Home

• What I find difficult about Buddhism, though it is also one of its significant fascinations, is the focus on what is immediately and physically present. To me, this seems a denial of the imagination, and the imagination is very important to me.

  

  Quentin S. Crisp
  • Important
  • Focus
  • Present

• When a book leaves your hands, it belongs to God. He may use it to save a few souls or to try a few others, but I think that for the writer to worry is to take over God's business.

  

  Flannery O'Connor
  • God
  • May
  • Business

• Abuse a man unjustly, and you will make friends for him.

  

  Douglas Horton
  • Friends
  • Abuse

• 'Everybody thinks they’re doing the right thing, kid. All the time. It’s about the only rule that explains how fucked-up this universe is.' A wan smile crept across her face. 'Nobody is a villain in their own head, are they? We all know we’re doing the right thing, which is why we’re in this mess.'

  

  Charles Stross
  • Up
  • Time
  • Why

• The machinations of ambiguity are among the very roots of poetry.

  

  William Empson
  • Art
  • Poetry
  • Roots

• Sir, what is Poetry? Why, Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is: but it is not easy to tell what it is.

  

  Samuel Johnson
  • Why
  • Light
  • Poetry