Quotes by Samuel Johnson

About Samuel Johnson:

Samuel Johnson is also the subject of "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.

Samuel Johnson

It has been observed in all ages that the advantages of nature or of fortune have contributed very little to the promotion of happiness; and that those whom the splendour of their rank, or the extent of their capacity, have placed upon the summits of...

Samuel Johnson

Imitations produce pain or pleasure, not because they are mistaken for realities, but because they bring realities to mind.

Samuel Johnson

Shakespeare opens a mine which contains gold and diamonds in unexhaustible plenty, though clouded by incrustations, debased by impurities, and mingled with a mass of meaner minerales.

Samuel Johnson

The composition of Shakespeare is a forest, in which oaks extend in the air, interspersed sometimes with weeds and brambles, and sometimes giving shelting to myrtles and to roses; filling the eye with awful pomp, and gratifying the mind with endless ...

Samuel Johnson

If the changes that we fear be thus irresistible, what remains but to acquiesce with silence, as in the other insurmountable distresses of humanity? It remains that we retard what we cannot repel, that we palliate what we cannot cure. Life may be len...

Samuel Johnson

Nothing has more retarded the advancement of learning than the disposition of vulgar minds to ridicule and vilify what they cannot comprehend.

Samuel Johnson

There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.

Samuel Johnson

Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.

Samuel Johnson

In all pointed sentences, some degree of accuracy must be sacrificed to conciseness." ( )

Samuel Johnson

A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.

Samuel Johnson

Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence." ( , 1757.)

Samuel Johnson

The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.

Samuel Johnson

I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.

Samuel Johnson

Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

Samuel Johnson

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Samuel Johnson

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

Samuel Johnson

No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.

Samuel Johnson

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.

Samuel Johnson

The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered, but a general effect of pleasing impression.

Samuel Johnson

Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.

Samuel Johnson

Author Bio

  • NameSamuel Johnson
  • DescriptionEnglish writer
  • AliasesDr Johnson
  • BornSeptember 18, 1709
  • DiedDecember 13, 1784
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionLexicographer; Linguist; Poet; Literary Historian; Writer; Teacher