Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is also the subject of "the most famous single biographical work in the whole of literature," James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionNon-Fiction Author
Date of Birth18 September 1709
In all evils which admit a remedy, impatience should be avoided, because it wastes that time and attention in complaints which, if properly applied, might remove the cause
The drama's laws, the drama's patrons give, for we that live to please, must please to live.
The chains of habit are generally too week to be felt, until they are too strong to be broken.
The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.
The habit of looking on the best side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a years.
The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered but a general effect of pleasing impression.
The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.
A Judge may be a farmer; but he is not to geld his own pigs. A Judge may play a little at cards for his own amusement; but he is not to play at marbles, or chuck farthing in the Piazza.
The folly of allowing ourselves to delay what we know cannot be finally escaped is one of the general weaknesses which, in spite of the instruction of moralists, and the remonstrance of reason, prevail to a greater or less degree in every mind
A mode of transferring property without producing any intermediate good
Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.
The lustre of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue
Their learning is like bread in a besieged town: every man gets a little, but no man gets a full meal.
I beg to submit that it is the first.