Samuel Johnson , wegen seiner Gelehrsamkeit meist Dr. Johnson genannt , war ein englischer Gelehrter, Lexikograf, Schriftsteller, Dichter und Kritiker. Er ist nach William Shakespeare der meistzitierte englische Autor und war im 18. Jahrhundert die wichtigste Person im literarischen Leben Englands, vergleichbar mit Gottsched in Deutschland.
„Patriotismus ist die letzte Zuflucht des Halunken.“
"The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D." von James Boswell, Eintrag vom 7. April 1775. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1791. Band 1, S. 211
Original engl. "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
"The Life of Samuel Johnson, L.L.D." von James Boswell, Eintrag vom 31. Juli 1763. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1791. Band 1, S. 112
Original engl. "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."
Quelle: Übersetzung Wikiquote
"The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D." von James Boswell, Eintrag vom 20. September 1777. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1791. Band 2, S. 160
Original engl. "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
“I am glad that he thanks God for anything.”
1755
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)
“Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.”
June 1784, p. 545
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV
“But, scarce observ'd, the knowing and the bold
Fall in the gen'ral massacre of gold.”
Quelle: Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), Line 21
“A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.”
Quelle: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 12
“He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.”
1784
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)
Chap. lxxii.
1778
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)
“All argument is against it; but all belief is for it.”
On the subject of ghosts, March 31, 1778, p. 373
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
“This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.”
Prayers and Meditations, Against Inquisitive and Perplexing Thoughts (1785)
May 1, 1783, p. 513
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV
1763
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
1754
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I
George Steevens, 310
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Johnsoniana
Quelle: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 3
March 21, 1776, p. 287
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
“LEXICOGRAPHER — A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.”
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)
Quelle: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 28
September 14, 1777, p. 341
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
July 31, 1763, p. 132. [Several editions have the variant "hind legs".]
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I
Kearsley, 606
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Johnsoniana
London: A Poem (1738) http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/london2.html, lines 158–161
“An age that melts in unperceiv'd decay,
And glides in modest innocence away.”
Quelle: Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), Line 293
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland (1775), Inch Kenneth
October 5, 1773
Recounted as a common saying of physicians at the time.
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)
“Officious, innocent, sincere,
Of every friendless name the friend.”
Stanza 2
Elegy on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet, A Practiser in Physic (1783)
No. 50 (8 September 1750); often misattributed to Joseph Addison
The Rambler (1750–1752)
1754, p. 72 (n. 4)
Referring to critics
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol I
