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Samuel Johnson Quotes
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Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. Religiously, he was a devout Anglican, and politically a committed Tory. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Johnson as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is the subject of James Boswell's The Life of Samuel Johnson, described by Walter Jackson Bate as "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature".Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford, for just over a year, but a lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher, he moved to London, where he began to write for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography Life of Mr Richard Savage, the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the play Irene.

After nine years of work, Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755. It had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been acclaimed as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship". This work brought Johnson popularity and success. Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson's was the pre-eminent British dictionary. His later works included essays, an influential annotated edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare, and the widely read tale The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; Johnson described their travels in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, a collection of biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.

Johnson was a tall and robust man. His odd gestures and tics were disconcerting to some on first meeting him. Boswell's Life, along with other biographies, documented Johnson's behaviour and mannerisms in such detail that they have informed the posthumous diagnosis of Tourette syndrome, a condition not defined or diagnosed in the 18th century. After a series of illnesses, he died on the evening of 13 December 1784, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In the years following his death, Johnson began to be recognised as having had a lasting effect on literary criticism, and he was claimed by some to be the only truly great critic of English literature. Wikipedia  

✵ 18. September 1709 – 13. December 1784
Samuel Johnson photo
Samuel Johnson: 362 quotes26 likes

Samuel Johnson Quotes

“A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing to say.”

Samuel Johnson

1780, p. 446
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV

“I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.”

Samuel Johnson

Source: Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson (1786), p. 252

“Every state of society is as luxurious as it can be. Men always take the best they can get.”

Samuel Johnson

April 14, 1778
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III

“Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove
The pangs of guilty power and hapless love!
Rest here, distress'd by poverty no more;
Here find that calm thou gav'st so oft before;
Sleep undisturb'd within this peaceful shrine,
Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!”

Samuel Johnson

Epitaph on Claudius Philips, the Musician
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.”

Samuel Johnson

Life of Milton
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

“I am glad that he thanks God for anything.”

Samuel Johnson

1755
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)

“Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.”

Samuel Johnson

June 1784, p. 545
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV

“But, scarce observ'd, the knowing and the bold
Fall in the gen'ral massacre of gold.”

Samuel Johnson

Source: Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), Line 21

“A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.”

Samuel Johnson book The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

Source: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 12

“He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.”

Samuel Johnson

1784
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)

“Johnson said that he could repeat a complete chapter of "The Natural History of Iceland" from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly thus: "There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island." 62”

Samuel Johnson

Chap. lxxii.
1778
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)

“All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.”

Samuel Johnson

On the subject of ghosts, March 31, 1778, p. 373
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III

“This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.”

Samuel Johnson

Prayers and Meditations, Against Inquisitive and Perplexing Thoughts (1785)

“It is strange that there should be so little reading in the world, and so much writing. People in general do not willingly read, if they can have any thing else to amuse them.”

Samuel Johnson

May 1, 1783, p. 513
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV

“Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious.”

Samuel Johnson

1763
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)

“GRUBSTREET — The name of a street near Moorsfield, London, much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries, and temporary poems.”

Samuel Johnson book A Dictionary of the English Language

A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

“[Of Lord Chesterfield] This man, I thought, had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!”

Samuel Johnson

1754
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“Towering is the confidence of twenty-one.”

Samuel Johnson

January 9, 1758
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“A lady once asked him how he came to define 'pastern', the knee of a horse: instead of making an elaborate defence, as might be expected, he at once answered, "Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance."”

Samuel Johnson

1755, p. 82
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“As with my hat upon my head
I walk'd along the Strand,
I there did meet another man
With his hat in his hand.”

Samuel Johnson

George Steevens, 310
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Johnsoniana

“I fly from pleasure," said the prince, "because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others.”

Samuel Johnson book The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

Source: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 3

“Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.”

Samuel Johnson The Idler

No. 58 (May 26, 1759)
The Idler (1758–1760)

“There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.”

Samuel Johnson

March 21, 1776, p. 287
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II

“LEXICOGRAPHER — A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.”

Samuel Johnson book A Dictionary of the English Language

A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

“But it is evident, that these bursts of universal distress are more dreaded than felt; thousands and ten thousands flourish in youth, and wither in age, without the knowledge of any other than domestic evils, and share the same pleasures and vexa­tions, whether their kings are mild or cruel, whether the armies of their country pursue their enemies or retreat before them.”

Samuel Johnson book The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

Source: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 28

“I [Boswell] was somewhat disappointed in finding that the edition of The English Poets, for which he was to write Prefaces and Lives, was not an undertaking directed by him: but that he was to furnish a Preface and Life to any poet the booksellers pleased. I asked him if he would do this to any dunce's works, if they should ask him.
JOHNSON: "Yes, Sir, and say he was a dunce."”

Samuel Johnson

September 14, 1777, p. 341
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III

“Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hinder legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”

Samuel Johnson

July 31, 1763, p. 132. [Several editions have the variant "hind legs".]
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“Hunting was the labour of the savages of North America, but the amusement of the gentlemen of England.”

Samuel Johnson

Kearsley, 606
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Johnsoniana

“By Numbers here from Shame or Censure free,
All Crimes are safe, but hated Poverty.
This, only this, the rigid Law persues,
This, only this, provokes the snarling Muse.”

Samuel Johnson

London: A Poem (1738) http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/london2.html, lines 158–161

“An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay,
And glides in modest innocence away.”

Samuel Johnson

Source: Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), Line 293

“That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.”

Samuel Johnson book A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), Inch Kenneth

“A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.”

Samuel Johnson

October 5, 1773
Recounted as a common saying of physicians at the time.
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)

“Officious, innocent, sincere,
Of every friendless name the friend.”

Samuel Johnson

Stanza 2
Elegy on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet, A Practiser in Physic (1783)

“He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 50 (8 September 1750); often misattributed to Joseph Addison
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.”

Samuel Johnson

1754, p. 72 (n. 4)
Referring to critics
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen.”

Samuel Johnson

1776
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)

“His [David Garrick's] death has eclipsed the gaiety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.”

Samuel Johnson

The Life of Edmund Smith
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81)

“Ah! let not Censure term our fate our choice,
The stage but echoes back the public's voice;
The drama's laws the drama's patrons give,
For we that live to please must please to live.”

Samuel Johnson

Prologue at the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre (1747)

“I have always suspected that the reading is right, which requires many words to prove it wrong; and the emendation wrong, that cannot without so much labour appear to be right.”

Samuel Johnson book The Plays of William Shakespeare

The Plays of William Shakespeare, Vol. I (1765), Preface

“PATRON, n. One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is repaid in flattery.”

Samuel Johnson book A Dictionary of the English Language

A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

“"Some," answered Imlac, "have indeed said that the soul is material, but I can scarcely believe that any man has thought it, who knew how to think; for all the conclusions of reason enforce the immateriality of mind, and all the notices of sense and investigations of science, concur to prove the unconsciousness of matter.”

Samuel Johnson book The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia

Source: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 48

“Declamation roared, while Passion slept.”

Samuel Johnson

Prologue at the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre (1747)

“The potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice.”

Samuel Johnson

1780?
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)

“I'll come no more behind your scenes, David [Garrick]; for the silk stockings and white bosoms of your actresses excite my amorous propensities.”

Samuel Johnson

1750 Journal
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I

“"Enlarge my life with multitude of days!"
In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays:
Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know
That life protracted is protracted woe.”

Samuel Johnson

Source: Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), Line 255

“Nature has given women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little.”

Samuel Johnson

Letter from Johnson to John Taylor, 18 August 1763. The Yale Book of Quotations edited by Fred R. Shapiro, pg 400.

“Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.”

Samuel Johnson

April 10, 1778
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III

“You see they'd have fitted him to a T.”

Samuel Johnson

1784
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)

“All censure of a man's self is oblique praise. It is in order to shew how much he can spare.”

Samuel Johnson

April 25, 1778, p. 403
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III