Quote#Politics & Power
Ah! let not Censure term our fate our choice
Quote bySamuel Johnson · 1709–1784
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Prologue at the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre (1747).
English (original)
Ah! let not Censure term our fate our choice, The stage but echoes back the public's voice; The drama's laws the drama's patrons give, For we that live to please must please to live.
— Samuel Johnson
More from Samuel Johnson
Of all the Griefs that harrass the Distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful Jest
Unmoved though Witlings sneer and Rivals rail, Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail. He scorns the meek address, the suppliant strain. With merit needless, and without it vain. In Reason, Nature, Truth, he dares to trust: Ye Fops, …
The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life.
By Numbers here from Shame or Censure free, All Crimes are safe, but hated Poverty. This, only this, the rigid Law persues, This, only this, provokes the snarling Muse.
This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confessed — Slow rises worth, by poverty depressed.
A thousand horrid Prodigies foretold it. A feeble government, eluded Laws, A factious Populace, luxurious Nobles, And all the maladies of stinking states.