"Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out."
"Words too familiar, or too remote, defeat the purpose of a poet. From those sounds which we hear on small or on coarse occasions, we do not easily receive strong impressions, or delightful images; and words to which we are nearly strangers, whenever they occur, draw that attention on themselves which they should transmit to other things."
3 likes
Source: Samuel Johnson (1825). “The Lives of the English Poets”, p.115
About the author