Samuel Johnson Quotes

English writer and lexicographer (1709–1784)

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [7 September O.S.] – 13 December 1784) was a British author, linguist and lexicographer. He is often referred to as simply Dr. Johnson in the history of literature and is regarded as the greatest man of letters in English history.

From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alternative Names: Dr Johnson • Dr. Johnson • Great Moralist

From Wikidata (CC0)

Of all the Griefs that harrass the Distrest,
Sure the most bitter is a scornful Jest

By Numbers here from Shame or Censure free,
All Crimes are safe, but hated Poverty.
This, only this, the rigid Law persues,
This, only this, provokes the snarling Muse.

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 a book.

We are easily shocked by crimes which appear at once in their full magnitude. But the gradual growth of our own wickedness, endeared by interest, and palliated by all the artifices of self-deceit, gives us time to form distinctions in our own favor, and reason by degrees submits to absurdity, as the eye is in time accommodated to darkness.

ALKAHEST (A'LKAHEST) n.s.A word used first by Paracelsus, and adopted by his followers, to signify an universal dissolvent, or liquour, which has the power of resolving all things into their first principles.