[英國]塞繆爾·約翰遜/Samuel Johnson
塞繆爾·約翰遜（1709-1784），英國詞典編纂家、散文家和文學評論家。一生窮困潦倒，直到曆時九載編纂完成《英語詞典》，才聲名大振。他才學廣博，言談睿智。詩歌代表作《人類欲望的虛妄》反映了他對人生的獨到見解，傳記《英國詩人傳》堅持以事實作傳，把英語傳記文學推向更高的水平。
“What,”said he,“makes the difference between man and all the rest of the animal creation?Every beast that strays beside me has the same corporal necessities with myself, he is hungry, and crops the grass, he is thirsty, and drinks the stream, his thirst and hunger are appeased, he is satisfied and sleeps;he rises again and he is hungry, he is again fed and is at rest. I am hungry and thirsty like him, but when thirst and hunger cease I am not at rest;I am, like him, pained with want, but am not, like him, satisfied with fullness. The intermediate hours are tedious and gloomy;I long again to be hungry that I may again quicken my attention. The birds peck the berries or the corn, and fly away to the groves where they sit in seeming happiness on the branches, and waste their lives in tuning one unvaried series of sounds. I likewise can call the lutanist and the singer, but the sounds that pleased me yesterday weary me today, and will grow yet more wearisome tomorrow. I can discover within me no power of perception which is not glutted with its proper pleasure, yet I do not feel myself delighted. Man has surely some latent sense for which this place affords no gratification, or he has some desires distinct from sense which must be satisfied before he can be happy.”
他說：“人和動物的區別在哪裏？在我身旁遊走的每個野獸，和我一樣都有肉體上的需要：餓了吃草，渴了喝溪水，充饑解渴後將滿足地睡去；醒來又餓了，再吃飽休息。我和他一樣也會饑渴，但不渴也不餓時，我不休息；我也像他一樣因需求匱乏而痛苦，但不像他因需求豐裕而滿足。中間這個階段，冗長而又乏味；我又開始渴望饑餓，好再次加速自己的注意。鳥兒啄食著漿果或穀物，好像非常快樂地飛到樹叢中，停靠在樹枝上，並且百無聊賴地吟唱著一成不變的曲調。同樣地，我也能叫來詩琴彈奏者和歌手，但昨天還能使我愉悅的樂章，今天卻令我厭煩，明天變得更令人厭倦。我從自身發現，沒有一種感受力不是被適度愉悅充滿的，但是我不覺得自己快樂。確實，人類有某種潛在的感覺，會告知自己這個地方不能令人愉悅，或者，在快樂之前，他有一些有別於感覺的渴望，必須先得到滿足。”