I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works.
Interpretation
An author prefers recognition, even negative, over being ignored.
This quote by Samuel Johnson highlights the importance of acknowledgment in the creative arts. It suggests that an author values the response to their work—be it criticism or praise—more than the absence of a response, as silence can signify that their efforts are not valued or appreciated. This reflects a broader truth about human nature: we crave recognition and validation for our contributions and creativity.
In practice
A writer might use this quote in a workshop to emphasize the importance of feedback on their work.
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.
Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.
History shows us that in times of people feeling like they are in need of some sort of rebellion or protests, the artists rise because the poetry we create about pain and its relationship to culture in the world begins to soothe and heal people who are feeling confused or afraid.
Musicals are plays, but the last collaborator is your audience, so you've got to wait 'til the last collaborator comes in before you can complete the collaboration.
When I'm writing a song, I try to be the character.
When things go wrong, this is what you should do. Make good art.
We are all affected by Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Alvar Aalto, and Mies van der Rohe. But no less than Bramante, Borromini, and Bernini. Architecture is a tradition, a long continuum. Whether we break with tradition or enhance it, we are still connected to that past. We evolve.
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