WIST

All Crimes are safe, but hated Poverty.
This, only this, the rigid Law pursues.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
“London: A Poem,” lines 159-160 (1738)
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This mournful truth is ev’rywhere confessed –
Slow rises worth, by poverty depressed.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
“London: A Poem,” ll. 176-177 (1738)
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If I were punished for every pun I shed, there would not be left a puny shed of my punnish head.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)

He who praises everybody, praises nobody.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)
In "Johnsoniana," The European Magazine and London Review (Jan 1785). From an anecdote by George Stevens.

A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)
Quoted in Sir John Hawkins, "Apophthegms, Sentiments, Opinions and Occasional Reflections" (1787-89), in George Birbeck Hill (ed.), Johnsonian Miscellanies, Vol. 2 (1897)

It is better a man should be abused than forgotten.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)
Quoted in Hester Lynch Piozzi, The Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson (1786).

Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)
When urged by Hannah More to have some wine with dinner. Quoted in Mrs. Ellis, A Voice From the Vintage (1843).

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself, then, especially being free from flatterers.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
(Attributed)
Attributed in Tryon Edwards, A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891).

LEXICOGRAPHER — A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
A Dictionary of the English Language, Preface (1755)
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Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense has been yet granted to very few.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
A Dictionary of the English Language, Preface (1755)

It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying that there is so much falsehood in the world.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Dr. Johnson’s Table Talk (1807)

I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Johnsonian Miscellanies, Vol. 2, “Apothegms, Sentiments, Opinions and Occasional Reflections” by Sir John Hawkins, ed. G. Hill (1897)

If nothing may be published but what civil authority shall have previously approved, power must always be the standard of truth.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the English Poets, “Milton” (1781)

To be of no church is dangerous. Religion, of which the rewards are distant, and which is animated only by faith and hope, will glide by degrees out of the mind unless it be invigorated and reimpressed by external ordinances, by stated calls to worship, and the salutary influence of example.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the English Poets, “Milton” (1781)
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‘Paradise Lost’ is one of the books which the reader admires and lays down, and forgets to take up again. None ever wished it longer than it is.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the English Poets, “Milton”(1781)
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Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the English Poets, “Pope” (1781)

Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the English Poets, “Pope” (1781)

Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Lives of the English Poets, “Pope” (1781)
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This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Prayers and Meditations, Against Inquisitive and Perplexing Thoughts (1785)

Every man naturally persuades himself that he can keep his resolutions, nor is he convinced of his imbecility but by length of time and frequency of experiment.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Prayers and Meditations, #1770 (1785)

Be not too hasty to trust or to admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels, but they love like men.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Rasselas: The Prince of Abissinia, ch. 18 (1759)
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Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Rasselas: The Prince of Abissinia, ch. 30 (1759)
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Marriage has many pains, but celibacy has no pleasures.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Rasselas, ch. 26 (1759)

How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Taxation No Tyranny (1775)
On American demands for independence.

There will always be a part, and always a very large part of every community, that have no care but for themselves, and whose care for themselves reaches little further than impatience of immediate pain, and eagerness for the nearest good.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Taxation No Tyranny (1775)
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Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Adventurer, #111 (27 Nov 1753)
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Power is always gradually stealing away from the many to the few because the few are more vigilant and consistent.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Adventurer, #45 (10 Apr 1753)

Our desires always increase with our possessions; the knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed, impairs our enjoyment of the good before us.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Adventurer, #67 (26 Jun 1753)

Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance. Yonder palace was raised by single stones, yet you see its height and spaciousness. He that shall walk with vigor three hours a day will pass in seven years a space equal to the circumference of the globe.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 13 (1759)
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Man is not weak; knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanicks laughs at strength.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 13 (1759)
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Example is always more efficacious than precept.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 30 (1759)
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Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 41 (1759)
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Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, ch. 6 (1759)
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There is no kind of idleness by which we are so easily seduced as that which dignifies itself by the appearance of business.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler #48 (17 Mar 1759)

We are inclined to believe those whom we do not know because they have never decieved us.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler #80 (27 Oct 1759)
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It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #11 (24 Jun 1758)
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Among the calamities of war, may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity encourages.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #30 (11 Nov 1758)

Prudence operates on life in the same manner as rules on composition: it produces vigilance rather than elevation, rather prevents loss than procures advantage; and often escapes miscarriages but seldom reaches either power or horror. … Prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #57 (19 May 1759)
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Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #58 (26 May 1759)
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Merriment is always the effect of a sudden impression. The jest which is expected is already destroyed.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #58 (26 May 1759)
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It is seldom that we find either men or places such as we expect them.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Idler, #58 (26 May 1759)
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The reciprocal civility of authors is one of the most risible scenes in the farce of life.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Life of Sir Thomas Browne (1756)
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The greatest part of mankind have no other reason for their opinions than that they are in fashion.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Plays of William Shakespeare, “Macbeth” (1765)

He that tries to recommend [Shakespeare] by select quotations will succeed like the pedant in Hierocles, who, when he offered his house to sale, carried a brick in his pocket as a specimen.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Plays of William Shakespeare, Preface (1765)

The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing itself in schemes of future felicity…. The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #2 (24 Mar 1750)

Those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler (1751)

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #103 (12 Mar 1751)

Nothing has more retarded the advancement of learning than the disposition of vulgar minds to ridicule and vilify what they cannot comprehend.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #117 (30 Apr 1751)

The vanity of being trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #13

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #135 (2 Jul 1751)

A transition from an author’s book to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour, grandeur and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #14 (5 May 1750)
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The mischief of flattery is not that it persuades any man that he is what he is not, but that it suppresses the influence of honest ambition, by raising an opinion that honor may be gained without the toil of merit.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #155 (10 Sep 1751)

The excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare and abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truths in a few words. We frequently fall into error and folly, not because the true principles of actions are not not known, but because, for a time, they are not remembered; and he may, therefore, be justly numbered among the benefactors of mankind, who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may be easily impressed on the memory, and taught by frequent recollection to recur habitually to the mind.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #175 (19 Nov 1751)

What are all the records of history, but narratives of successive villainies, of treasons and usurpations, massacres and wars?

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #175 (19 Nov 1751)

But, perhaps, the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in few words.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #175 (19 Nov 1751)

Envy … desires not so much its own happiness as another’s misery.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #183 (Dec 1751)

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #2 (24 Mar 1750)
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He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #50 (8 Sep 1750)
Often misattributed to Joseph Addison

Friendship may well deserve the sacrifice of pleasure, though not of conscience.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #64 (27 Oct 1750)

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #79 (18 Dec 1750)

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #86 (12 Jan 1751)

In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
The Rambler, #96 (16 Feb 1751)

While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (10 Apr 1776)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

A man who has not been in Italy is always conscious of an inferiority.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (11 Apr 1776)
In J. Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

I deny the lawfulness of telling a lie to a sick man for fear of alarming him; you have no business with consequences, you are to tell the truth.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (13 Jun 1784)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

All knowledge is of itself of some value. There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable that I would not rather know it than not.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (14 Apr 1775)
    (Source)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

This is the happiest conversation, where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm, quiet interchange of sentiments.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (14 Apr 1775)
In James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (14 Jul 1763)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

I have, all my life long, been lying till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (14 Sep 1773)
In James Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1786)

I have, all my life long, been lying till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (14 Sep 1773)
In James Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1786).

Pleasure of itself is not a vice.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (15 Apr 1778)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

If lawyers were to undertake no causes till they were sure they were just, a man might be precluded altogether from a trial of his claim, though, were it judicially examined, it might be found a very just claim.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (15 Aug 1773)
In James Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1786)

We cannot prove any man’s intention to be bad. You may shoot a man through the head, and say you intended to miss him; but the Judge will order you to be hanged.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (15 Feb 1766)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791).

It is better to live rich, than to die rich.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (17 Apr 1778)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1770)

Quoted by Rev. Dr. Maxwell (1770). In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1770)
Quoting Rev. Dr. Maxwell (1770), in reference to a "dull, tiresome" acquaintance.In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (1780)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (18 Apr 1775)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (19 Sep 1777)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Sir, all the arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no evil, shew it to be evidently a great evil. You never find people labouring to convince you that you may live very happily upon a plentiful fortune.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (20 Jul 1768)
    (Source)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

To let friendship die away by negligence and silence, is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of this weary pilgrimage.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (20 Mar 1782)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Every man who attacks my belief diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy; and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (3 Apr 1776)

Quoted in Boswell, <i>The Life of Samuel Johnson</i> (1791)

Courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (5 Apr 1775)
    (Source)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (5 Oct 1773)
In James Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1786). Given as a common saying among doctors.

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (7 Apr 1775)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791):

Patriotism having become one of our topicks, Johnson suddenly uttered, in a strong determined tone, an apophthegm, at which many will start: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." But let it be considered, that he did not mean a real and generous love of our country, but that pretended patriotism which so many, in all ages and countries, have made a cloak of self-interest.

Ambrose Bierce wrote in his Devil's Dictonary, "In Dr. Johnson's famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer I beg to submit that it is the first."

Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable and others extremely difficult.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (7 Dec 1782)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

It is a man’s own fault, it is from want of use, if his mind grows torpid in old age.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (9 Apr 1778)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

Idleness is a disease which must be combated; but I would not advise a rigid adherence to a particular plan of study. I myself have never persisted in any plan for two days together. A man ought to read just as inclination leads him: for what he reads as a task will do him little good. A young man should read five hours in a day, and so may acquire a great deal of knowledge.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (9 Jul 1763)
    (Source)

In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

BOSWELL. But what do you think of supporting a cause which you know to be bad?
JOHNSON. “Sir, you do not know it to be good or bad till the Judge determines it. … It is his business to judge; and you are not to be confident in your own opinion that the cause is bad, but to say all you can for your client, and then hear the Judge’s opinion.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment (Spring 1768)
On being a lawyer. In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Comment to Joshua Reynolds (1755)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
In James Boswell The Life of Samuel Johnson, 1780 (1791)

A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge. Consider, sir; what is the purpose of courts of justice? It is, that every man may have his cause fairly tried, by men appointed to try causes. A lawyer is not to tell what he knows to be a lie: he is not to produce what he knows to be a false deed; but he is not to usurp the province of the jury and of the judge, and determine what shall be the effect of evidence — what shall be the result of legal argument.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
In James Boswell, Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, 15 Aug 1773 (1786)

Men hate more steadily than they love; and if I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many things to please him.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
In James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

I am inclined to believe that few attacks either of ridicule or invective make much noise, but by the help of those they provoke.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Letter to Hester Thrale (5 Jul 1783)

Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation of how it shall be spent; dleiberation, which those who begin it by prudence, and continue it with futility, must, afer long expence of thought, conclude by chance. To prefer one future mode of life to another, upon just reasons, requires faculties which it has not pleased our Creator to give us.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Letter to James Boswell (21 Aug 1766)
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In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791)

A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Letter to Lord Chesterfield (1754)
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), Note to entry for 20 Mar 1776.

Ah! let not Censure term our fate our choice,
The stage but echoes back the public’s voice;
The drama’s laws the drama’s patrons give,
For we that live to please must please to live.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Opening of Drury Lane Theatre, Prologue (1747)

I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer, lexicographer, critic
Rasselas: Prince of Abissinia, ch. 26 (1759)
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