Authors / Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson quotes

1709–1784 · English writer and lexicographer

Johnson wrote the first great English dictionary, but his fame as a talker comes from James Boswell, who wrote down his conversation for twenty years.

4 real · 0 not theirs

Really theirs

4 quotes traced to Samuel Johnson's own work or a reliable witness.

Sourced
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

He meant false patriotism used as a cover, not love of country.

Source: Boswell, Life of Johnson, 7 April 1775
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When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
Source: Boswell, Life of Johnson, 20 September 1777
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No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.
Source: Boswell, Life of Johnson, 5 April 1776
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When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
Source: Boswell, Life of Johnson, 19 September 1777