The Quotable Johnson: A Topical Compilation of His Wit and Moral Wisdom

Rating:
Summary: A focused collection of Johnson quotations.
Review: .
Danckert has developed a nice, portable collection of Johnson quotes, drawing on a variety of his writings, including some sadly neglected ones (the Sermons). The collection provides a very good picture of Johnson's thoughts as a moral instructor, and this is one of the best selection of Johnson's quotes in print. The thoughts here are considerably fuller than what you'll see in a volume like Bartlett's, which tends to go for the quick witticisms. For that alone, it's worth buying. But, I wish it were more: because of the focus, there is a lot of Johnson we don't get. We don't see enough of the political arguments or the literary criticism, we don't get the chestnuts that have often been handed down, but are still new to the newcomer. For instance, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel" is not to be found, nor any of his famous comments on Scotland. In my view, this book is incomplete. Even among "incomplete" Johnson collections, I feel there are better ones to be had (Henry Darcy Curwen's "A Johnson Sampler" [Harvard, 1963] has just been re-issued). (You could also look on the Internet.)