A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
ATTRIBUTION:
Life of Johnson (Boswell).1Vol. ii. Chap. vi. 1763.
Note 1. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835.
Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]
