the elegantly dressed thinking of Dr Johnson

Patrick Kurp, at Anecdotal Evidence, writes about literary biography and the New Criticism (as was):

"From Samuel Johnson – his works and life – I have learned much about how to be a man and a writer, how to live with unhappiness and adversity, how to dwell in vanity while striving, without hope, for humility."

He links to Theodore Dalrymple in the City Journal, who explains that Johnson's greatness lies in just this paradox, which is the source of his profundity as a human being:

"Johnson is a good but flawed man, always trying to be, but not always succeeding in being, a better one: he is proud, he is humble; he is weak, he is strong; he is prejudiced, he is generous-minded; he is tenderhearted, he is bad-tempered; he is foolish, he is wise; he is sure of himself, he is modest; he is idle, he is hardworking; he is opinionated, he is consumed by doubt; he is spiritual, he is carnal; he is hopeful, he is despairing; he is skeptical, he is credulous; he is melancholy, he is lighthearted; he is deferential, he is aware that he has no superior in the world; he is clumsy of body, he is elegant of mind and diction; he is a failure, he is triumphant. We never expect to meet anyone who, to such a degree, encompasses in his being all human vulnerability and human resilience."

Look how nice that paragraph looks, the words laid out! All the "is"es. Lovely.

I know that "elegantly dressed" is a bit of an overstatement in the Doctor's case... and he's not exactly topical. But he's timeless.