Endlessly Fascinating?

I entered a contest today where you had to tell what one man you would like to meet and dine with in history. Who would you pick? I thought of the following:

- Otto Frank

- G.K. Chesterton

- C.S. Lewis

- Winston Churchill

(Geez ... is that a theme or what? In my defense, they were just the first to pop into my head!)

But my final answer was: Samuel Johnson.  

Noted as a man of "distinguished letters" -- perhaps the most distinguished in all of English history -- he would have to be endlessly fascinating. Can you imagine the stories he could tell? And he was oh so wise! Here is an interesting quotation from Johnson:

"Every man is to take care of his own wisdom and his own virtue, without minding too much what others think." - Johnson

Quite the traveler, Johnson even made his way north all the way to the Isle of Skye. Here's an interesting thought on traveling:

"As the Spanish proverb says, 'He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him,' so it is with travelling, –-a man must carry knowledge with him if he would bring home knowledge."  - Johnson