“A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity.”

— Samuel Johnson

1735
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 14, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity." by Samuel Johnson?

Samuel Johnson 362

English writer 1709–1784

Related quotes

“There is nothing that makes the mind more elastic and expandable than discovering how the world works. Developing and rewarding curiosity will be where innovation finds its future.”

Edgar Bronfman, Sr. (1929–2013) Canadian-American businessman

From an editorial on Inside Higher Ed. http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2013/10/17/liberal-arts-are-best-preparation-even-business-career-essay.

“Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) English writer

Source: Works of Samuel Johnson

“Nothing contributes more to nourish elevation of sentiments in a people, than the large and free character of their habitations.”

John Stuart Mill book Autobiography

Source: https://archive.org/details/autobiography01mill/page/55/mode/1up p. 55

“The seed of curiosity had been planted; it needed nothing more than time and boredom to grow.”

Tara Westover book Educated

Source: Educated (2018), Chapter 6, “Shield and Buckler” (p. 60)

“Poetry operates by raising our curiosity, engaging the mind by degrees to take an interest in the event, keeping that event suspended, and surprising at last with an unexpected catastrophe. The painter's art is more confined, and has nothing that corresponds with, or perhaps is equivalent to, this power and advantage of leading the mind on, till attention is totally engaged. What is done by Painting, must be done at one blow; curiosity has received at once all the satisfaction it can ever have.”

Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792) English painter, specialising in portraits

Discourse no. 8, delivered on December 10, 1778; vol. 1, p. 247.
Discourses on Art

“Curiosity is more important than knowledge.”

Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity

Variant: Imagination is more imortant than Knowledge

“Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.”

Napoleon Hill (1883–1970) American author

“Religion, which should most distinguish us from the beasts, and ought most particularly elevate us, as rational creatures, above brutes, is that wherein men often appear most irrational, and more senseless than beasts.”

John Locke book An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Book IV, Ch. 18
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689)

“In 1980, Chinese-Americans were certainly considered perpetual foreigners to America, even more so than today. In addition, Asians, in general, were regarded as poor, uneducated, and manual laborers—cooks, waiters, laundrymen—an image which has turned 180 degrees in my lifetime.”

David Henry Hwang (1957) Playwright

On how Chinese-Americans were viewed when Hwang’s debuted in the theater world in “DAVID HENRY HWANG ON THEATRE, TRUMP, AND ASIAN-AMERICAN IDENTITY” https://thetheatretimes.com/david-henry-hwang-on-theatre-trump-and-asian-american-identity/ in Theatre World (2019 Mar 15)

“I am afraid that our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, and that we have more curiosity than understanding. We grasp at everything, but catch nothing except wind.”

Michel De Montaigne (1533–1592) (1533-1592) French-Occitan author, humanistic philosopher, statesman

Source: The Complete Essays

“A generous and elevated mind is distinguished by nothing more certainly than an eminent degree of curiosity.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Samuel Johnson 362

Related quotes

Related topics