“Man alone is born crying, lives complaining, and dies disappointed.”
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Famous Samuel Johnson Quotes
“One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”
Source: 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
Source: The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Together with his life, and notes on his Lives of the poets, by Sir John Hawkins, Knt. In eleven volumes ...
“No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.”
Source: Selected poetry and prose
“Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.”
Source: The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq
“A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.”
Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales
“Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.”
Source: The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq
Source: The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
“The happiest part of a man's life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.”
Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales
“I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.”
Source: Johnsoniana; or supplement to Boswell; being Anecdotes and sayings of Dr. Johnson, etc
“No man was ever great by imitation.”
Source: 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 Late Productions of Mrs. Piozzi, Mr. Boswell, ...
“A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner.”
Source: Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales
“A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority.”
“When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.”
Source: 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
“A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything.”
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson
“Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.”
Source: The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
“I have found men to be more kind than I expected, and less just.”
“There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money.”
“When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
“When men come to like a sea-life, they are not fit to live on land.”
Source: 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
Source: Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Johnson's Diary of a Journey Into North Wales
Source: The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson: Comprising Opinions and Anecdotes of Life and Literature, Men, Manners, and Morals
Source: 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
Source: 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 Late Productions of Mrs. Piozzi, Mr. Boswell, ...
Source: Selected poetry and prose
Source: The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752
“I do not care to speak ill of a man behind his back, but I believe he is an attorney.”
Source: Dr. Johnson's Table Talk: Containing Aphorisms on Literature, Life, and Manners; with Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, Selected and Arranged from Dr. Boswell's Life of Johnson