Samuel Johnson Quotes about History

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

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

Samuel Johnson

Civilization, History, Political

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 1770)

Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

Samuel Johnson

Art, Philosophy, History

Letter to Francesco Sastres, 21 Aug. 1784

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

Samuel Johnson

History, Cynical, Liberty

Taxation No Tyranny (1775)

All history was at first oral.

Samuel Johnson

History, Firsts

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1786). “Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales”, p.448

This is my history; like all other histories, a narrative of misery.

Samuel Johnson

History, Narrative, Misery

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., Comprehending an Account of His Studies, and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order: A Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published; the Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for Near Half a Century During which He Flourished”, p.352

The history of mankind is little else than a narrative of designs which have failed and hopes that have been disappointed.

Samuel Johnson

History, Design, Littles

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1810). “The Works of Samuel Johnson”, p.398

If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.

Samuel Johnson

Character, Men, History

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). “The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished”, p.13