“THE REFUSAL TO BE PLEASED” (COMMENT).

“THE REFUSAL TO BE PLEASED” (COMMENT). Nick and Mary Jane have both commented on my post on Samuel Johnson’s repeated use of the phrase “Avoid the refusal to be pleased.” Apparently Johnson used the phrase with several meanings. One was that he should avoid the result, as Bate puts it, of “his own impatience and quickness to irritability or despair.” A related thought would be that his feelings of guilt and unworthiness would interfere with feelings of happiness. Nick fastened on another set of meanings. Johnson was aware of the critic’s temptation to set up high standards to promote his own reputation. Related to this is Mary Jane’s observation that there are people who exercise power and demand more of others by withholding approval.