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
When speculation has done its worst, two and two still make four.
Quotation is the highest compliment you can pay an author.
Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.
Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.
He who praises everybody, praises nobody.
What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
Exert your talents, and distinguish yourself, and don't think of retiring from the world, until the world will be sorry that you retire.
Few enterprises of great labor or hazard would be undertaken if we had not the power of magnifying the advantages we expect from them.
If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.
Books like friends, should be few and well-chosen.