John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
3994 Samuel Johnson 1709-1784 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 3994 |
| AUTHOR: | Samuel Johnson (1709–1784) |
| QUOTATION: | This mournful truth is ev’rywhere confess’d,— Slow rises worth by poverty depress’d. 1 |
| ATTRIBUTION: | London. Line 176. |
| Note 1. Three years later Johnson wrote, “Mere unassisted merit advances slowly, if—what is not very common—it advances at all.” [back] |