Samuel Johnson: Man

Samuel Johnson was English writer. Explore interesting quotes on man.

Samuel Johnson: 724 quotes26 likes

“To convince any man against his will is hard, but to please him against his will is justly pronounced by Dryden to be above the reach of human abilities.”

Samuel Johnson The Rambler

No. 93
The Rambler (1750–1752)

“A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated, has not the art of getting drunk.”

April 24, 1779, p. 424
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III

“No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had.”

On Oliver Goldsmith1780
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV

“This was a good dinner enough, to be sure, but it was not a dinner to ask a man to.”

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

“Every man naturally persuades himself that he can keep his resolutions, nor is he convinced of his imbecility but by length of time and frequency of experiment.”

Prayers and Meditations, No. 1770 (1785)

“My friend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in that character [as an author], he deserved to have his merit handsomely allowed.”

May 1781
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV

“Were it not for imagination, Sir, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a Duchess.”

May 9, 1778, p. 409
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III