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Samuel Johnson
363 quotes
“Johnson observed, that "he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1770 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1770) p. 181
“A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the triumph of hope over experience.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1770 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1770) p. 182
“A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1770 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1770) p. 182
“A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1772 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (14 April 1772) p. 201
“Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1773 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Recalling "what an old tutor of a college said to one of his pupils" (30 April 1773) p. 217
“Attack is the reaction; I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1775 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (2 April 1775)
“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.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1775 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (6 April 1775)
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1775 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (7 April 1775) p. 253
“Hell is paved with good intentions.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1775 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (14 April 1775)
“Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1775 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (18 April 1775) p. 258
“There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly, but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1775 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1775) p. 273
“There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (21 March 1776) p. 287
“This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (28 April 1778) p. 659
“A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him. A man when he gets into a higher sphere, into other habits of life, cannot keep up all his former connections. Then, Sir, those who knew him formerly upon a level with themselves, may think that they ought still to be treated as on a level, which cannot be; and an acquaintance in a former situation may bring out things which it would be very disagreeable to have mentioned before higher company, though, perhaps, everybody knows of them.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (28 March 1776) p. 296
“No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (5 April 1776) p. 302
“While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (10 April 1776) p. 305
“Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (May 1776)
“Sir, you have but two topicks, yourself and me. I am sick of both.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1776 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (May 1776) p. 313
“Life admits not of delays; when pleasure can be had, it is fit to catch it. Every hour takes away part of the things that please us, and perhaps part of our disposition to be pleased.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1777 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1 September 1777)
“I [Boswell] was somewhat disappointed in finding that the edition of The English Poets, for which he was to write Prefaces and Lives, was not an undertaking directed by him: but that he was to furnish a Preface and Life to any poet the booksellers pleased. I asked him if he would do this to any dunce's works, if they should ask him. JOHNSON: "Yes, Sir, and say he was a dunce.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1777 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (14 September 1777) p. 341
“Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1777 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (19 September 1777) p. 351, often misquoted as being hanged in the morning.
“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1777 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (20 September 1777) p. 356
“Here's to the next insurrection of the negroes in the West Indies.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1777 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (23 September 1777) p. 363
“It must be agreed that in most ages many countries have had part of their inhabitants in a state of slavery; yet it may be doubted whether slavery can ever be supposed the natural condition of man. It is impossible not to conceive that men in their original state were equal; and very difficult to imagine how one would be subjected to another but by violent compulsion. An individual may, indeed, forfeit his liberty by a crime; but he cannot by that crime forfeit the liberty of his children.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1777 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (23 September 1777) p. 363
“All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the subject of ghosts (31 March 1778) p. 373
“It is man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (9 April 1778)
“Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (10 April 1778)
“Every state of society is as luxurious as it can be. Men always take the best they can get.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (14 April 1778)
“A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (14 April 1778)
“I am willing to love all mankind, except an American.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (15 April 1778) p. 392
“Pleasure of itself is not a vice.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (15 April 1778)
“All theory is against the freedom of the will; all experience for it.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (15 April 1778) p. 393
“As the Spanish proverb says, "He, who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him." So it is in travelling; a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (17 April 1778) p. 396
“It is better to live rich, than to die rich.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (17 April 1778)
“The insolence of wealth will creep out.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (18 April 1778) p. 400
“All censure of a man's self is oblique praise. It is in order to shew how much he can spare.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (25 April 1778) p. 403
“Wine makes a man more pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (28 April 1778) p. 404
“Were it not for imagination, Sir, a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a Duchess.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1778 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (9 May 1778) p. 409
“I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1779 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (26 March 1779)
“Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1779 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (7 April 1779)
“A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated, has not the art of getting drunk.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1779 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (24 April 1779) p. 424
“Worth seeing? yes; but not worth going to see.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1779 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (12 October 1779)
“If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1779 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to James Boswell (27 October 1779) p. 433
“A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing to say.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1780 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1780) p. 446
“Greek, sir, is like lace; every man gets as much of it as he can.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1780 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1780)
“No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1780 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On Oliver Goldsmith (1780)
“The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1780 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (1780)
“Mrs. Montagu has dropt me. Now, Sir, there are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1781 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (March 1781) p. 465
“Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1781 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (8 May 1781)
“My friend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in that character [as an author], he deserved to have his merit handsomely allowed.”
Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) first seen 1781 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (May 1781)