Furtherquotes: Dr Johnson
IT MAY, I think, be justly observed, that few books disappoint their readers more than the narrations of travellers. One part of mankind is naturally curious to learn the sentiments, manners, and condition of the rest; and every mind that has leisure or power to extend its views, must be desirous of knowing in what proportion Providence has distributed the blessings of nature or the advantages of art, among several nations of the earth…
Every writer of travels should consider, that, like all other authors, he undertakes either to instruct or please, or to mingle pleasure with instruction. He that instructs must offer to the mind something to be imitated or something to be avoided; he that pleases must offer new images to his reader, and enable him to form a tacit comparison of his own state with that of others.
Dr Samuel Johnson in The Idler, 23 February 1760
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Comment of the moment
quote "Ah, what larks: Rogue Riderhood, Bradley Headstone, Miss Ninetta Crummles (the Infant Phenomenon), Mr Dick, Barkis, Joe the Fat Boy, The Golden Dustman, Mr Wemmick's dad, Mrs Gummidge, Mr William Guppy, Jerry Cruncher, Bullseye, Harold Skimpole..."