Samuel Johnson was an English poet, lexicographer, playwright, essayist, author, moralist and editor. He lived in the 18th century and is often regarded as one of the most influential writers in the history of England. Johnson attended Pembroke College at the University of Oxford but due to financial difficulties he had to drop out and he became a teacher, before becoming the editor of a magazine in London. One of his early works is ‘Life of Mr. Richard Savage’. Later, he went on to write poems which were very well received by people. Some of his well-known poems include, ‘The Vanity of Human Flesh’, ‘London’, ‘Prologue at the Opening of the Theatre in Drury Lane’ and other works like ‘Lives of the Poets’, ‘Preface to the Plays of William Shakespeare’, ‘The History of Rasselas’, ‘Prince of Abissinia’ and ‘Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth’ among many others. He was quite rightly regarded as among the finest men of letters in English history; however one of his most important contributions to the English language was ‘A Dictionary of the English Language’, which he compiled over a period of 9 years and is regarded as one of his distinguished works. We bring to you a treasure trove of quotes that have been excerpted from his novels, books, essays, poems and writings. Read on to explore a compilation of some of the best known quotes by Samuel Johnson.
Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.
My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.
![Nothing [...] will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.](https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/images/quotes/samuel-johnson-47683.jpg)
