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My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is...more

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Every other author may aspire to praise the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach.

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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...more

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Whoever thou art that, not content with a moderate condition, imaginest happiness in royal magnificence, and dreamest that command or riches can feed ...more

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The man who is asked by an author what he thinks of his work is put to the torture and is not obliged to speak the truth.

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When an author is yet living we estimate his powers by his worst performance and when he is dead we rate them by his best.

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Read over your compositions and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine strike it out.

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The best part of every author is in general to be found in his book I assure you.

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Your manuscript is both good and original but the parts that are good are not original and the parts that are original are not good.

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I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works.

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A man who writes a book, thinks himself wiser or wittier than the rest of mankind; he supposes that he can instruct or amuse them, and the publick to ...more

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The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it.

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I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.

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The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.

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I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.