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."
1770, p. 181
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol II
Quelle: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 10
“It is man's own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age.”
April 9, 1778
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
“A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.”
April 14, 1778
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
“From Thee, great God: we spring, to Thee we tend,
Path, motive, guide, original, and end.”
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 257
Quelle: Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson (1786), p. 67
Quelle: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 48
The Life of Milton
Lives of the English Poets (1779–81)
August 15, 1773
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785)
Seward, 617
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Johnsoniana
Epitaph on Goldsmith
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
1779
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)
“Cold approbation gave the ling'ring bays,
For those who durst not censure, scarce could praise.”
Prologue at the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre (1747)
“Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking.”
1776 http://books.google.com/books?id=fcIIAAAAQAAJ&q=%22Melancholy+indeed+should+be+diverted+by+every+means+but+drinking%22&pg=PA6#v=onepage
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919), Life of Johnson (Boswell)
“A fellow that makes no figure in company, and has a mind as narrow as the neck of a vinegar-cruet.”
Tour to the Hebrides, Sept. 30, 1773
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
“The richest author that ever grazed the common of literature.”
Of John Campbell, as quoted by Joseph Wharton; reported in "John Campbell", Encyclopedia Britannica (1911)
“We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know, because they have never deceived us.”
No. 80 (October 27, 1759)
The Idler (1758–1760)
“No place affords a more striking conviction of the vanity of human hopes than a public library.”
No. 106 (23 March 1751)
The Rambler (1750–1752)
“I never have sought the world; the world was not to seek me.”
March 23, 1783
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV
1781, p. 477, Referring to subscribers to his edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare, with Notes (1765)
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV
June 1784, p. 526 http://books.google.com/books?id=FMoIAAAAQAAJ&q="Courage+is+a+quality+so+necessary+for+maintaining+virtue+that+it+is+always+respected+even+when+it+is+associated+with+vice"&pg=PA319#v=onepage
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV
Quelle: The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759), Chapter 29
1780, p. 446
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol IV
Quelle: Anecdotes of Samuel Johnson (1786), p. 252
“Every state of society is as luxurious as it can be. Men always take the best they can get.”
April 14, 1778
Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Vol III
Epitaph on Claudius Philips, the Musician
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
Life of Milton
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)
