"Worth seeing? Yes; but not worth going to see"
About this Quote
A perfect little scalpel of eighteenth-century taste: Johnson grants the work its due, then denies it your effort. The line is built on a petty-sounding distinction that turns out to be a full philosophy of judgment. “Worth seeing” concedes intrinsic merit; “not worth going to see” shifts the verdict to the economy of attention. It’s not that the thing is bad. It’s that your time, money, and inconvenience are better spent elsewhere. In an age when “going” to see meant carriages, crowds, social obligations, and an evening sacrificed, the second clause bites harder than it does today. Johnson is pricing culture.
The intent is conversational authority. Johnson, famously allergic to hype and cant, speaks as a critic who refuses to be bullied by fashion or social expectation. The yes is a feint of fairness; the but is the guillotine. That balance lets him sound reasonable while still delivering a dismissal you can repeat at dinner. It’s review-as-epigram: portable, quotable, socially useful.
Subtext: not all value is equal. Some art is best encountered accidentally, secondhand, or at low cost. Johnson isn’t only judging the object; he’s judging the surrounding spectacle of consumption. The quip also flatters the listener: you’re the sort of person whose attention is scarce enough to be managed.
In modern terms, it’s the original “stream it, don’t pay theater prices” - a reminder that cultural approval is not the same as cultural priority.
The intent is conversational authority. Johnson, famously allergic to hype and cant, speaks as a critic who refuses to be bullied by fashion or social expectation. The yes is a feint of fairness; the but is the guillotine. That balance lets him sound reasonable while still delivering a dismissal you can repeat at dinner. It’s review-as-epigram: portable, quotable, socially useful.
Subtext: not all value is equal. Some art is best encountered accidentally, secondhand, or at low cost. Johnson isn’t only judging the object; he’s judging the surrounding spectacle of consumption. The quip also flatters the listener: you’re the sort of person whose attention is scarce enough to be managed.
In modern terms, it’s the original “stream it, don’t pay theater prices” - a reminder that cultural approval is not the same as cultural priority.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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