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Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson Quotes

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Famous Samuel Johnson Quotes

“Those writers who lie on the watch for novelty can have little hope of greatness; for great things cannot have escaped former observation.”

LittlesLyingWatchesGreatnessGreat ThingsObservationFormerOriginalityNovelty
Book:The beauties of Samuel Johnson: maxims and observations. To which are now added, biographical anecdotes of the doctor, his life [&c.].
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“That man is never happy for the present is so true, that all his relief from unhappiness is only forgetting himself for a little while. Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.”

MenWantLifeLittlesLife IsForgetProgressEnjoymentReliefUnhappiness
Book:The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished
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“Moral sentences appear ostentatious and tumid, when they have no greater occasions than the journey of a wit to his home town: yet such pleasures and such pains make up the general mass of life; and as nothing is little to him that feels it with gre”

FeelsLittlesHomePainPleasureMoralGreaterJourneyMoralityMassTownsSentencesWitOccasionsHome TownOstentatious
Book:Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Johnson's Diary of a Journey Into North Wales
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“Some read for style, and some for argument: one has little care about the sentiment, he observes only how it is expressed; another regards not the conclusion, but is diligent to mark how it is inferred; they read for other purposes than the attainment of practical knowledge; and are no more likely to grow wise by an examination of a treatise of moral prudence, than an architect to inflame his devotion by considering attentively the proportions of a temple.”

LittlesCarePurposeReadingGrowsMoralWiseStyleArgumentMarkRegardPracticalsDevotionConclusionProportionTemplesSentimentsArchitectConsideringPrudenceExaminationAttainmentDiligentPractical Knowledge
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius
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“The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment. It is commonly observed, that among soldiers and seamen, though there is much kindness, there is little grief; they see their friend fall without any of that lamentation which is indulged in security and idleness, because they have no leisure to spare from the care of themselves; and whoever shall keep his thoughts equally busy will find himself equally unaffected with irretrievable losses.”

LittlesCareFallLossGriefKindnessSecuritySorrowSafeBusySoldierEmploymentLeisureSparesIdlenessAntidoteLamentationSeamen
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An Essay on His Life and Genius
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“The authour who imitates his predecessors only by furnishing himself with thoughts and elegances out of the same general magazine of literature, can with little more propriety be reproached as a plagiary, than the architect can be censured as a mean copier of Angelo or Wren, because he digs his marble out of the same quarry, squares his stones by the same art, and unites them in columns of the same orders.”

WritingMeanLittlesArtOrderLiteratureStonesMagazinesSquaresArchitectOriginalityEleganceColumnsMarblePredecessorsProprietyWrensQuarryCopiers
Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
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“Sir, if you wish to have a just notion of the magnitude of this city, you must not be satisfied with seeing its great streets and squares, but must survey the innumerable little lanes and courts. It is not in the showy evolutions of buildings, but in the multiplicity of human habitations which are crowded together, that the wonderful immensity of London consists.”

IfsHumansLittlesTogetherWishCitiesWonderfulSeeingStreetsBuildingEvolutionCourtNotionLondonSatisfiedSquaresCrowdedLanesMagnitudeSurveysMultiplicityImmensityShowy
Book:The table talk of Samuel Johnson
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“You think I love flattery (says Dr. Johnson), and so I do; but a little too much always disgusts me: that fellow Richardson, on the contrary, could not be contented to sail quietly down the stream of reputation, without longing to taste the froth from every stroke of the oar.”

ThinkingLittlesToo MuchTasteFellowsLongingContraryReputationStreamsDisgustingSailDrsStrokesFlatteryJohnsonOarDr Johnson
Book:The beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: consisting of maxims and observations, moral, critical, and miscellaneous: to which are now added biographical anecdotes of the doctor, selected from the works of Mrs. Piozzi;--his Life, recently published by Mr. Boswell, and other authentic testimonies; also his will, and the sermon he wrote for the late Doctor Dodd
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“They who have already enjoyed the crowds and noise of the great city, know their desire to return is little more than the restlessness of a vacant mind, that they are not so much led by hope as driven by disgust, and wish rather to leave the country than to see the town.”

KnowsMindLittlesCountryDesireWishCitiesReturnTownsCrowdsDrivenNoiseEnjoyedDisgustingRestlessnessGreat CitiesVacant
Book:The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.
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“Every man's affairs, however little, are important to himself.”

MenLittlesImportantInterestAffairEvery ManSelf Interest
Book:The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished
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“No man is much regarded by the rest of the world. He that considers how little he dwells upon the condition of others, will learn how little the attention of others is attracted by himself. While we see multitudes passing before us, of whom perhaps not one appears to deserve our notice or excites our sympathy, we should remember, that we likewise are lost in the same throng, that the eye which happens to glance upon us is turned in a moment on him that follows us, and that the utmost which we can reasonably hope or fear is to fill a vacant hour with prattle, and be forgotten.”

MenWorldShouldLittlesMomentsHappensEyeRememberLostHoursAttentionConditionsDeserveForgottenPassingPassingsMultitudesGlancesVacant
Author:Samuel Johnson
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“The chief art of learning, as Locke has observed, is to attempt but little at a time. The widest excursions of the mind are made by short flights frequently repeated; the most lofty fabrics of science are formed by the continued accumulation of single propositions.”

MindLittlesArtMadeScienceLearningFlightChiefsFabricPropositionsAccumulationLoftyExcursions
Book:The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
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