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
Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.
Honesty is not greater where elegance is less.
It was not for me to bandy civilities with my Sovereign
Lexicographer. A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.
In the most general applause discordant voices will always be heard
Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.
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
He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.
Knowledge always demands increase; it is like fire, which must first be kindled by some external agent, but will afterwards always propagate itself.
Insanity is the power of fancy over reason.
I found you essay to be good and original. However, the part that was original was not good and the part that was good was not original.
The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.
He is a benefactor of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may be easily impressed on the memory, and so recur habitually to the mind.