John Fenton Johnson was born ninth of nine children into a Kentucky whiskey-making family with a strong storytelling tradition.
Famous quotes containing the words fenton and/or johnson:
“The writing of a poem is like a child throwing stones into a mineshaft. You compose first, then you listen for the reverberation.”
—James Fenton (b. 1949)
“I am not able to instruct you. I can only tell that I have chosen wrong. I have passed my time in study without experience; in the attainment of sciences which can, for the most part, be but remotely useful to mankind. I have purchased knowledge at the expense of all the common comforts of life: I have missed the endearing elegance of female friendship, and the happy commerce of domestic tenderness.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)