Better Gutenberg
Free, beautifully formatted public-domain ebooks

Preface to Shakespeare

by Samuel Johnson

30 of 32 · Contents · Download EPUB

Hamlet

Act II Scene ii. (II. i. 114-17.)

It is as proper to our age
     To cast beyond ourselves in our opinions,
     As it is common for the younger sort

To lack discretion. This is not the remark of a weak man. The vice of age is too much suspicion. Men long accustomed to the wiles of life “cast” commonly “beyond themselves”, let their cunning go further than reason can attend it. This is always the fault of a little mind, made artful by long commerce with the world.

← Back to Preface to Shakespeare

Scroll to Top