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
He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty
He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others
He is a benefactor of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may be easily impressed on the memory, and so recur habitually to the mind.
There are charms made only for distance admiration.
Where there is no hope there can be no endeavor
We are inclined to believe those whom we don not know because they have never deceived us.
Those who attain to any excellence commonly spend life in some single pursuit, for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.
Well, (said he), we had a good talk. BOSWELL: Yes, Sir, you tossed and gored several persons.
Wickedness is always easier than virtue, for it takes a short cut to everything.
Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o clock is a scoundrel.
Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.
The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken
All theory is against freedom of the will; all experience for it.