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
And panting Time toil'd after him in vain.
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. Time hovers o'er, impatient to destroy, And shuts up all the passages of joy.
That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.
Wickedness is always easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to everything.
Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.
Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.
men do not suspect faults which they do not commit
Happiness," said he, "must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty.
I have already enjoyed too much; give me something to desire.
Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay an author.
He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and obscure sentences, and asks why books are written which cannot be understood.
Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary be not idle.
While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.