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Samuel Johnson, often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer and polymath who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The work for which he is best known is his 42,733-entry Dictionary of the English Language (1755). For this and other contributions in and to the English language, the Oxford Dictiona…
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politics · English writer and lexicographer (1709–1784) · lexicographer · linguist · poet · literary historian · writer · teacher · literary critic · biographer · essayist · politician · also Samuel Johnson, Great Moralist, Dr Johnson, Dr. Johnson, Johnson
Born 18 September 1709 · Died 13 December 1784 · Q183266
43 published statements · 0 followers
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Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already seized upon Pekuah. There can be no reason why spectres should haunt the Pyramid more than other places, or why they should have power or will to hurt innocence and purity. Our entrance is no violation of their privileges: we can take nothing from them; how, then, can we offend them?
patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.
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“Yet I do not mean to add new terrors to those which have already seized upon Pekuah. There can be no reason why spectres should haunt the Pyramid more than other places, or why they should have power or will to hurt innocence and purity. Our entrance is no violation of their privileges: we can take nothing from them; how, then, can we offend them?”
“patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”
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“The Natural History of Iceland”
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“That speech I wrote in a garret, in Exeter Street.”
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“voluntarily resigned the power of voting”
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“expressed grief in the strongest manner he had ever read”
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“almost the only man whom I call a friend”
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Mshale: Nolan Wells UPDATE: Dr. Johnson Umar Breaks Silence And Reveals Truth You Won't Believe Mortgage Broker (MALZ1V6QRx)
Tribute Archive: Carl Samuel Johnson Obituary | Crowell Brothers Funeral Home | Peachtree Corners, GA
Nordic Mag: Biathlon | Mount Hotham: Rosie Franzke and Samuel Johnson crowned Australian sprint champions
The Guardian: Poem of the week: On the Death of Dr Robert Levet by Samuel Johnson
The Guardian: Wit, wisdom and better than Wordle: why you should visit Dr Johnson’s birthplace museum
The Guardian: Saving Samuel Johnson's house – archive, 5 October 1907
The Guardian: The 100 best nonfiction books: No 86 – A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson (1755)
The Guardian: How well do you know Samuel Johnson's dictionary? – quiz
The Guardian: 100 best nonfiction books: No 77 – The Life of Samuel Johnson LLD by James Boswell (1791)
The Guardian: Shelley, Johnson and the enemies of liberty | Letters
Johnson was among the ten people selected by the Royal Mail for their "Eminent Britons" commemorative postage stamp issue
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The BBC Four television channel started the Samuel Johnson Prize, an award for non-fiction
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Oxford University held a week-long conference featuring 50 papers, and the Arts Council of Great Britain held an exhibit of "Johnsonian portraits and other memorabilia"
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Marks Johnson's Gough Square house
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“Anecdotes of the Revd. Percival Stockdale”
Died 1784-12-13.
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“Fly fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.”
“I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.”
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
“A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.”
“Round numbers are always false.”
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
“Wickedness is always easier than virtue; for it takes the short cut to everything.”
“The Bravery of the English Common Soldiers", in The British Magazine (January 1760)”
“It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.”
“I will be conquered; I will not capitulate.”
“If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.”
“love... it was the wisdom of a fool, and the folly of the wise”
“This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”
“A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated, has not the art of getting drunk.”
“A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.”
“When I was a young man, being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. But I soon gave this over; for I found that generally what was new was false.”
“he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney.”
“Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance.”
Studied at Pembroke College (1728–1731).
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Born 1709-09-18.
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