The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. by James Boswell is a biography of English writer Dr. Samuel Johnson. The work was from the beginning a critical and popular success, and represents a landmark in the development of the modern genre of biography. It is notable for its extensive reports of Johnson's conversation. Many have claimed it as the greatest biography written in English, but some modern critics object that the work cannot be considered a proper biography. Boswell's personal acquaintance with his subject began in 1763, when Johnson was 54 years old, and Boswell covered the entirety of Johnson's life by means of additional research. The biography takes many critical liberties with Johnson's life, as Boswell makes various changes to Johnson's quotations and even censors many comments. Nonetheless, the book is valued as both an important source of information on Johnson and his times, as well as an important work of literature.
(19 September 1777)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
Variant: We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.
October 26, 1769, p. 174
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson
30 November 1784
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
“Then, all censure of a man's self is oblique praise.”
25 April 1778
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
Quoting William Gerard Hamilton (1784)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
“He who has provoked the lash of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.”
Comment on Samuel Johnson's treatment of Thomas Sheridan (16 October 1769)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
Spoken by Samuel Foote about a "law-Lord" (1783)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
March 1781
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
Quoting Edwards, an old schoolmate of Johnson's (17 April 1778)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
Referring to Johnson (26 October 1769)
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
1768
The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. (1791)
