# Samuel Johnson's best quotes (with sources)

From his Dictionary, Rasselas, The Rambler and Boswell's Life of Johnson: the real lines of the great English wit, dated where Boswell dated them, and without the famous one he never wrote.

- 237 votes · 13 items
- Jul 19, 2020 · gardener_winnipeg
- https://even.best/en/l/4530/samuel-johnson-s-best-quotes-with-sources

## Top 13

1. **Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.** (23 · ▲23 ▼0) — Boswell, Life of Johnson, 18 April 1775.
2. **Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.** (20 · ▲21 ▼1) — Boswell, Life of Johnson, 19 September 1777. Often misquoted as 'hanged in the morning'.
3. **No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.** (20 · ▲20 ▼0) — Boswell, Life of Johnson, 5 April 1776.
4. **When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.** (17 · ▲21 ▼4) — Boswell, Life of Johnson, 20 September 1777.
5. **Lexicographer: a writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.** (16 · ▲19 ▼3) — A Dictionary of the English Language (1755).
6. **Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.** (14 · ▲18 ▼4) — Boswell, Life of Johnson, 7 April 1775.
7. **A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.** (9 · ▲13 ▼4) — Boswell, Life of Johnson, 1770.
8. **It was the triumph of hope over experience.** (8 · ▲11 ▼3) — On a man who remarried right after an unhappy marriage. Boswell, Life of Johnson, 1770.
9. **Oats: a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.** (6 · ▲11 ▼5) — A Dictionary of the English Language (1755).
10. **Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured and little to be enjoyed.** (6 · ▲11 ▼5) — The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759).
11. **Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.** (4 · ▲7 ▼3) — The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759).
12. **Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.** (3 · ▲11 ▼8) — The Rambler, No. 2, 24 March 1750.
13. **Patriotism is not necessarily included in rebellion. A man may hate his king, yet not love his country.** (1 · ▲6 ▼5) — The Patriot (1774).

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