It is advantageous to an author that his book should be attacked as well as praised. Fame is a shuttlecock. If it be struck at one end of the room, it will soon fall to the ground. To keep it up, it must be struck at both ends.
Interpretation
A good book attracts both criticism and praise, which is essential for maintaining its prominence.
Samuel Johnson emphasizes the importance of both praise and criticism for an author's work. He likens fame to a shuttlecock, suggesting that it requires continuous engagement and attention from both supporters and detractors to remain relevant and elevated in the literary world. Without challenge or support, a book's recognition is likely to decline.
In practice
In a discussion about literary criticism, one might reference this quote to highlight the necessity of diverse opinions in literature.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
Self-worth comes from one thing - thinking that you are worthy.
Patience and Diligence, like faith, remove mountains.
Alas, we think of ourselves as unique entities-minds unlike any others-and thus we often reject the lessons that the emotional experience of others has to teach us.
Goodness has never been a guarantee of safety.
To be honest and truthful in all endeavours is an experience, not a regret
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