Samuel Johnson

Birth: 1709-09-18 , Lichfield

Death: 1784-12-13 , Londres

Samuel Johnson was a prominent 18th-century English writer, lexicographer, essayist, poet, and literary critic. He is widely regarded as one of the most important literary figures in British history, famous for his 'A Dictionary of the English Language'.

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There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

Deviation from Nature is deviation from happiness.

Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most.

Memory is like all other human powers, with which no man can be satisfied who measures them by what he can conceive, or by what he can desire.

It would add much to human happiness, if an art could be taught of forgetting all of which the remembrance is at once useless and afflictive ... that the mind might perform its functions without incumbrance, and the pasLmight no longer encroach upon the present.

If a man is in doubt whether it would be better for him to expose himself to martyrdom or not, he should not do it. He must be convinced that he has a delegation from heaven.

It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination.

It is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage, that we find all the motives which they have for remaining in that connection, and the restraints which civilised society imposes to prevent separation, are hardly sufficient to keep them together.

I would advise no man to marry who is not likely to propagate understanding.

A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died: Johnson said, it was the triumph of hope over experience.

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Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784) was an English writer who became one of the most celebrated intellectuals of his time. Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, he struggled with ill health and financial difficulties for much of his life. His most influential work, 'A Dictionary of the English Language' (1755), was a landmark in English lexicography, defining the vocabulary and spelling of the language. Johnson also produced insightful essays, sermons, poems, and biographies, including 'Lives of the Poets'. He was a central figure in London's literary circles, known for his sharp wit, brilliant conversation, and strong opinions. His life and work were immortalized in James Boswell's 'Life of Samuel Johnson', one of the most important biographies in English literature.