If A Man Who Is

In Comparing These Two Writers, He [samuel Johnson] Used This Expression: "that There Was As Great A Difference Between Them As Between A Man Who Knew How A Watch Was Made, And A Man Who Could Tell The Hour By Looking On The Dial-plate." This Was A Short And A Figurative Statement Of His Distinction Between Drawing Characters Of Nature And Characters Only Of Manners, But I Cannot Help Being Of Opinion, That The Neat Watches Of Fielding Are As Well Constructed As The Large Clocks Of Richardson, And That His Dial Plates Are Brighter.

Why Should Not The Knowledge, The Skill, The Expertness, The Assiduity, And The Spirited Hazards Of Trade And Commerce, When Crowned With Success, Be Entitled To Give Those Flattering Distinctions By Which Mankind Are So Universally Captivated? Such Are The Specious, But False Arguments For A Proposition Which Always Will Find Numerous Advocates, In A Nation Where Men Are Every Day Starting Up From Obscurity To Wealth. To Refute Them Is Needless. The General Sense Of Mankind Cries Out, With Irresistible Force, "un Gentilhomme Est Toujours Gentilhomme.

Many Infidels Have Maintained That Ignorance Is The Mother Of Devotion.

Writing A Book I Have Found To Be Like Building A House. A Man Forms A Plan, And Collects Materials. He Thinks He Has Enough To Raise A Large And Stately Edifice; But After He Has Arranged, Compacted And Polished, His Work Turns Out To Be A Very Small Performance. The Authour However Like The Builder, Knows How Much Labour His Work Has Cost Him; And Therefore Estimates It At A Higher Rate Than Other People Think It Deserves

When We Know Exactly All A Man's Views And How He Comes To Speak And Act So And So, We Lose Any Respect For Him, Though We May Love And Admire Him.