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.

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

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God Himself, sir, does not propose to judge a man until his life is over. Why should you and I?

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it.

a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who has, for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning.

It is better to live rich than to die rich.

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything.

"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."

(Essay on Tea, 1757.)

We never do anything consciously for the last time without sadness of heart.

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.

The fountain of content must spring up in the mind, and he who hath so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition, will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief he proposes to remove.

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself alone. A man should keep his friendships in constant repair.