Barbara Johnson
Barbara Johnson
Barbara Johnsonwas an American literary critic and translator, born in Boston. She was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University. Her scholarship incorporated a variety of structuralist and poststructuralist perspectives—including deconstruction, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and feminist theory—into a critical, interdisciplinary study of literature. As a scholar, teacher, and translator, Johnson helped make the theories of French philosopher Jacques Derrida accessible to English-speaking audiences in the United States...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionCritic
Date of Birth4 October 1947
CountryUnited States of America
Love is what makes two people sit in the middle of a bench when there is plenty of room at both ends.
I think living to be one hundred would be great, but living to fifty twice would be so much better.
A lot of kneeling keeps one in good standing.
When we have hope, we are showing that we trust God to work out the situation. Trust is the only way we're going to make it through and be a part of God's marvelous plan for His child.
Old florists never die. They just make other arrangements.
All we can take with us to heaven is what we leave behind in the lives we touch.
Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go there right away.
If we give someone a piece of bread and butter, that's kindness, but if we put jelly or peanut butter on it, then it's Loving Kindness.
Have we forgotten that we're all born the same way: naked, wet, and hungry? Then things get worse!
Time mellows people as it mellows wine, as long as the grapes are good. You may set out to be a businesswoman or businessman but in the course of time end up caring for a dying parent, orphaned niece, or disabled brother. You may encounter illness yourself and end up being a writer, touching the heartstrings, not the purse strings of other people. That's why it's best to always be true to yourself and God and to be flexible within His will. He will use you.
Life can be wonderful. Do your best not to miss it!” Enjoy what it is before it isn't anymore. Dare to slip on a pair of bunny slippers once in a while! Surprise yourself! Enjoy the little things because one day you'll look back and realize they were the big things!
Teaching literature is teaching how to read. How to notice things in a text that a speed-reading culture is trained to disregard, overcome, edit out, or explain away; how to read what the language is doing, not guess what the author was thinking; how to take evidence from a page, not seek a reality to substitute for it.
Once a reporter stood in front of a fire as it consumed a house and then he turned to see the homeowners and their little son watching it burn. The reporter, fishing for a human interest angle, said to the boy, "Son, it looks like you don't have a home anymore." The little boy promptly answered, "Oh, yes, we have a home. We just don't have a house to put it in."
The most important things in your home are people.