1,764. Reading; Vocabulary
"Few faults of style, whether real or imaginary, excite the
malignity of a more numerous class of readers, than the use of
hard words."
Johnson: Idler #70 (August 18, 1759)
Link
1,767. Vocabulary
"Difference of thoughts will produce difference of language. He
that thinks 
with more extent than another, will
want words of a
larger meaning; he that thinks with more subtilty will seek for
terms of more nice discrimination; and where is the wonder, since
words are but the images of things, that he who never knew the
original should not know the copies?"
Johnson: Idler #70 (August 18, 1759)
Link
1,768. Reading; Vocabulary
"Vanity inclines us to find faults any where rather than in
ourselves. 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."
Johnson: Idler #70 (August 18, 1759)
Link
