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'.

9,407

Views

Poems List

Lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed.

High people, Sir, are the best; take a hundred ladies of quality, you’ll find them better wives, better mothers, more willing to sacrifice their own pleasures to their children, than a hundred other women.

Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.

It is not often that any man can have so much knowledge of another, as is necessary to make instruction useful.

Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is therefore become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises, and by eloquences sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetic.

If a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagreeable to him; for where there is nothing but pure misery there never is any recourse to the mention of it.

Players, Sir! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint stools to make faces and produce laughter, like dancing dogs.

A fellow will hack half a year at a block of marble to make something in stone that hardly resembles a man. The value of statuary is owing to its difficulty. You would not value the finest head cut upon a carrot.

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

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth.

Comments (0)

ShareOn Facebook WhatsApp X

NoComments

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.