The best moral virtues are those of which the vulgar are, perhaps, the best judges.
A fool never has thought, a madman has lost it; and an absent man is for the time without it.
Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.
Of the writers who come next, chronologically, Fielding, Sterne, Garrick, Smollett, Foote, and others of lesser degree, we can quote no extracts, owing to the continuous character of their work.
At this time, humor was broad and wit coarse, yet the plays and novels of the period have lasted and retained their reputation.
Which brings us to Samuel Johnson.