
September 14, 1777, p. 341
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
Joseph Collins The Doctor Looks at Biography (New York: George H. Doran, 1925) p. 25.
Criticism
September 14, 1777, p. 341
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
1830s, Sir Walter Scott (1838)
“The two most beautiful words in the English language are 'cheque enclosed.”
“The four most expensive words in the English language are "this time it’s different."”
As quoted in The Four Pillars of Investing : Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio (2002) by William Bernstein
“Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.”
As quoted in With Truth as Our Sword (2005) by C E Sylvester, p. 205
“Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language.”
Keywords (1983)
“Harry: The most beautiful words in the English language aren't "I love you" but "it's benign."”
Deconstructing Harry (1997)
Source: Enemies of Promise (1938), Part 1: Predicament, Ch. 3: The Challenge to the Mandarins (p. 17-18)
Context: The Mandarin style at its best yields the richest and most complete expression of the English language. It is the diction of Donne, Browne, Addison, Johnson, Gibbon, de Quincey, Landor, Carlyle and Ruskin as opposed to that of Bunyan, Dryden, Locke, Defoe, Cowper, Cobbett, Hazlitt, Southey and Newman. It is characterized by long sentences with many dependent clauses, by the use of the subjunctive and conditional, by exclamations and interjections, quotations, allusions, metaphors, long images, Latin terminology, subtlety and conceits. Its cardinal assumption is that neither the writer nor the reader is in a hurry, that both are possessed of a classical education and a private income. It is Ciceronian English.
Carl MacDougall, "Reformers and radicals in Scottish literature" http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/arts/writingscotland/learning_journeys/reformers_and_radicals/.
Criticism