A Vision of Poets (1844)
Lectures on the English Poets http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16209/16209.txt (1818), Lecture III, "On Shakespeare and Milton"
“New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new.”
The Life of Pope
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81)
“He thought about crossing his fingers, but clasped her hand instead.”
Epilogue (p. 535)
Last Call (1992)
“The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar, familiar things new.”
In this work are exhibited in a very high degree the two most engaging powers of an author. New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new. ~ Samuel Johnson, "The Life of Alexander Pope" from Lives of the English Poets (1781) http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/lvpc10.txt
Misattributed
“A drunkard clasp his teeth and not undo 'em,
To suffer wet damnation to run through 'em.”
The Revenger's Tragedy (1607), Act III. Sc. 1. Compare: "Distilled damnation", Robert Hall (in Gregory's Life of Hall).
“Familiarity with any great thing removes our awe of it.”
The Master Key (1901)
Context: Familiarity with any great thing removes our awe of it. The great general is only terrible to the enemy; the great poet is frequently scolded by his wife; the children of the great statesman clamber about his knees with perfect trust and impunity; the great actor who is called before the curtain by admiring audiences is often waylaid at the stage door by his creditors.
