“He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
1784
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)
Spoken by Samuel Foote about a "law-Lord" (1783)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
“He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer
1784
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)
“While some no other cause for life can give
But a dull habitude to live.”
John Oldham (poet) (1653–1683) English satirical poet and translator
To the Memory of Norwent, Paragraph 5; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922).
“Many of us are dull, but not as dull as the grandchildren think we are.”
William Feather (1889–1981) Publisher, Author
Featherisms (2008)
“Dullness is the spice of life. Which is why we must always use other spices.”
David Levithan (1972) American author and editor
Source: Dash & Lily's Book of Dares
“Psychological knowledge has made us dull.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) Indian spiritual philosopher
4th Public Talk, Ojai, California (10 April 1980)
1980s
H. Richard Niebuhr (1894–1962) American theologian
Source: Christ and Culture (1951), pp. 70-71
G. K. Chesterton Charles Dickens
Source: Charles Dickens (1906), Ch. 10 "The Great Dickens Characters"