Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

so that you may be able to prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable

and perfect.

Romans 12 2 This is resistance and reformation on the Fight,

Laugh Feast Network. Samuel Johnson was one of the most important English writers of the 18th century

and remains one of the most quoted prose stylists

in the English language. It has long been traditional to refer to the second half of the 18th century

as the age of Johnson. Even so, he is best remembered not so much as a writer, but as a conversationalist,

and as a personality, mostly due to the account of his life written by James Boswell,

his near-do-well travel companion. Boswell's biography has actually eclipsed Johnson's own writings.

Many of his most memorable quotations come not from his works, but from his biographer's recollections

of his conversations. Boswell was able to put Johnson in a very small club, whose members include authors like

Socrates and Proust, whose most famous works were compiled by someone else.

Born in Litchfield in 1709, the son of a failed bookseller, Johnson struggled throughout his early life

against the ravages of poverty. Though he demonstrated a precocious mind and a prodigious literary

talent, he was unable to complete his education at Oxford and instead began his lifelong labors as a freelance writer

in London for a series of newspapers, magazines, journals, and book publishers.

From the books in his father's shop, he had found comfort and instruction, preparing him for his role as the century's greatest

man of letters. He had received an excellent introduction to classical literature at the Litchfield

and Stowerbridge grammar schools. The combination of his education and his privation

enabled him to become phenomenally prolific and adept at virtually every genre,

from criticism, translation, poetry, and biography to sermons, parliamentary,

...