The ambition of superior sensibility and superior eloquence disposes the lovers of arts to receive rapture at one time, and communicate it at another; and each labors first to impose upon himself and then to propagate the imposture.
Interpretation
Art lovers experience intense emotions and feel compelled to share those feelings with others.
In this quote, Samuel Johnson highlights the dual nature of art appreciation, where individuals both experience deep rapture when engaging with art and feel the need to convey those feelings to others. This cycle emphasizes the transformative power of art and the social aspect of sharing one's emotional responses, suggesting that artists and art lovers alike are influenced by a desire to express and communicate their subjective experiences, even if they sometimes feel like they are deceiving themselves in the process.
In practice
This quote can be used in an art critique to explain the emotional journey of experiencing and discussing art.
To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of the weary pilgrimage.
Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.
When any anxiety or gloom of the mind takes hold of you, make it a rule not to publish it by complaining; but exert yourselves to hide it, and by endeavoring to hide it you drive it away.
A fishing rod is a stick with a hook at one end and a fool at the other.
In music, silence is more important than sound.
My concern has always been with creating images that catch people's eyes, penetrate their minds, warm their hearts and cause them to act.
In literature imitations do not imitate.
To keep beauty in its place is to make all things beautiful.
Everything can be going well, but if I'm not writing, I'm not happy. When I'm writing well, I'm like a different person.
The magic of the music seems to light the way.
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