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
Such is the constitution of man that labor may be styled its own reward; nor will any external incitements be requisite, if it be considered how much happiness is gained, and how much misery escaped, by frequent and violent agitation of the body
...it will not always happen that the success of a poet is proportionate to his labor.
Exercise is labor without weariness.
Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price.
There are charms made only for distance admiration.
Where there is no hope there can be no endeavor
To love one that is great, is almost to be great one's self.
There are minds which easily sink into submission, that look on grandeur with undistinguishing reverence, and discover no defect where there is elevation of rank and affluence of riches
Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
Marriage, Sir, is much more necessary to a man than to a woman; for he is much less able to supply himself with domestick comforts
It is better that some should be unhappy than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
It is common for controversists, in the heat of disputation, to add one position to another till they reach the extremities of knowledge, where truth and falsehood lose their distinction
It is difficult to conjecture, from the conduct of him whom we see in a low condition, how he would act if wealth and power were put into his hands