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John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.

Samuel Johnson 1709-1784 John Bartlett

1
Let observation with extensive view Survey mankind, from China to Peru. 1
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 1.
2
There mark what ills the scholar’s life assail,— Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 159.
3
He left the name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 221.
4
Hides from himself his state, and shuns to know That life protracted is protracted woe.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 257.
5
An age that melts in unperceiv’d decay, And glides in modest innocence away.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 293.
6
Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 308.
7
Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise! From Marlb’rough’s eyes the streams of dotage flow, And Swift expires, a driv’ler and a show.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 316.
8
Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate?
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 345.
9
For patience, sov’reign o’er transmuted ill.
Vanity of Human Wishes. Line 362.
10
Of all the griefs that harass the distrest, Sure the most bitter is a scornful jest. 2
London. Line 166.
11
This mournful truth is ev’rywhere confess’d,— Slow rises worth by poverty depress’d. 3
London. Line 176.
12
Studious to please, yet not ashamed to fail.
Prologue to the Tragedy of Irene.
13
Each change of many-colour’d life he drew, Exhausted worlds, and then imagin’d new.
Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre.
14
And panting Time toil’d after him in vain.
Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre.
15
For we that live to please must please to live.
Prologue on the Opening of Drury Lane Theatre.
16
Catch, then, oh catch the transient hour;   Improve each moment as it flies! Life ’s a short summer, man a flower;   He dies—alas! how soon he dies!
Winter. An Ode.
17
Officious, innocent, sincere, Of every friendless name the friend.
Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 2.
18
In misery’s darkest cavern known,   His useful care was ever nigh 4 Where hopeless anguish pour’d his groan,   And lonely want retir’d to die.
Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 5.
19
And sure th’ Eternal Master found   His single talent well employ’d.
Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 7.
20
Then with no throbs of fiery pain, 5   No cold gradations of decay, Death broke at once the vital chain,   And freed his soul the nearest way.
Verses on the Death of Mr. Robert Levet. Stanza 9.
21
That saw the manners in the face.
Lines on the Death of Hogarth.
22
Philips, whose touch harmonious could remove The pangs of guilty power and hapless love! Rest here, distress’d by poverty no more; Here find that calm thou gav’st so oft before; Sleep undisturb’d within this peaceful shrine, Till angels wake thee with a note like thine!
Epitaph on Claudius Philips, the Musician.
23
A Poet, Naturalist, and Historian, Who left scarcely any style of writing untouched, And touched nothing that he did not adorn. 6
Epitaph on Goldsmith.
24
How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure! Still to ourselves in every place consigned, Our own felicity we make or find. With secret course, which no loud storms annoy, Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.
Lines added to Goldsmith’s Traveller.
25
Trade’s proud empire hastes to swift decay.
Line added to Goldsmith’s Deserted Village.
26
From thee, great God, we spring, to thee we tend,— Path, motive, guide, original, and end. 7
Motto to the Rambler. No. 7.
27
Ye who listen with credulity to the whispers of fancy, and pursue with eagerness the phantoms of hope; who expect that age will perform the promises of youth, and that the deficiencies of the present day will be supplied by the morrow,—attend to the history of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia.
Rasselas. Chap. i.
28
“I fly from pleasure,” said the prince, “because pleasure has ceased to please; I am lonely because I am miserable, and am unwilling to cloud with my presence the happiness of others.”
Rasselas. Chap. iii.
29
A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.
Rasselas. Chap. xii.
30
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.
Rasselas. Chap. xii.
31
Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. 8
Rasselas. Chap. xiii.
32
I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.
Rasselas. Chap. xvi.
33
Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance.
Rasselas. Chap. xvi.
34
The first years of man must make provision for the last.
Rasselas. Chap. xvii.
35
Example is always more efficacious than precept.
Rasselas. Chap. xxx.
36
The endearing elegance of female friendship.
Rasselas. Chap. xlvi.
37
I am not so lost in lexicography as to forget that words are the daughters of earth, and that things are the sons of heaven. 9
Preface to his Dictionary.
38
Words are men’s daughters, but God’s sons are things. 10
Boulter’s Monument. (Supposed to have been inserted by Dr. Johnson, 1745.)
39
Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Life of Addison.
40
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.
Life of Milton.
41
The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth.
Life of Milton.
42
His death eclipsed the gayety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.
Life of Edmund Smith (alluding to the death of Garrick).
43
That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plain of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of Iona.
Journey to the Western Islands: Inch Kenneth.
44
He is no wise man that will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.
The Idler. No. 57.
45
What is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.
The Idler. No. 74.
46
Tom Birch is as brisk as a bee in conversation; but no sooner does he take a pen in his hand than it becomes a torpedo to him, and benumbs all his faculties.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 11 Vol. i. Chap. vii. 1743.
47
Wretched un-idea’d girls.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 12 Vol. i. Chap. x. 1752.
48
This man [Chesterfield], I thought, had been a lord among wits; but I find he is only a wit among lords. 13
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 14 Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754.
49
Sir, he [Bolingbroke] was a scoundrel and a coward: a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half a crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger at his death.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 15 Vol. ii. Chap. i. 1754.
50
Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and when he has reached ground encumbers him with help?
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 16 Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755.
51
I am glad that he thanks God for anything.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 17 Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755.
52
If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 18 Vol. ii. Chap. ii. 1755.
53
Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 19 Vol. ii. Chap. iii. 1759.
54
Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious. 20
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 21 Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
55
The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high-road that leads him to England.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 22 Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
56
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.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 23 Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
57
Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 24 Vol. ii. Chap. v. 1763.
58
A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 25 Vol. ii. Chap. vi. 1763.
59
Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an access of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 26 Vol. ii. Chap. ix. 1763.
60
Sir, a woman 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.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 27 Vol. ii. Chap. ix. 1763.
61
I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else. 28
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 29 Vol. ii. Chap. ix. 1763.
62
This was a good dinner enough, to be sure, but it was not a dinner to ask a man to.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 30 Vol. ii. Chap. ix. 1763.
63
A very unclubable man.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 31 Vol. ii. Chap. ix. 1764.
64
I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 32 Vol. iii. Chap. iii. 1769.
65
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 33 Vol. iii. Chap. iv. 1769.
66
That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one. 34
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 35 Vol. iii. Chap. v. 1770.
67
I am a great friend to public amusements; for they keep people from vice.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 36 Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772.
68
A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 37 Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772.
69
Much may be made of a Scotchman if he be caught young.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 38 Vol. iii. Chap. viii. 1772.
70
A man may write at any time if he will set himself doggedly to it.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 39 Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773.
71
Let him go abroad to a distant country; let him go to some place where he is not known. Don’t let him go to the devil, where he is known.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 40 Vol. iv. Chap. ii. 1773.
72
Was ever poet so trusted before?
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 41 Vol. v. Chap. vi. 1774.
73
Attack is the reaction. I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 42 Vol. v. Chap. vi. 1775.
74
A man will turn over half a library to make one book.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 43 Vol. v. Chap. viii. 1775.
75
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 44 Vol. v. Chap. ix. 1775.
76
Hell is paved with good intentions. 45
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 46 Vol. v. Chap. ix. 1775.
77
Knowledge is of two kinds: we know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it. 47
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 48 Vol. v. Chap. ix. 1775.
78
I never take a nap after dinner but when I have had a bad night; and then the nap takes me.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 49 Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775.
79
In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 50 Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775.
80
There is now less flogging in our great schools than formerly,—but then less is learned there; so that what the boys get at one end they lose at the other.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 51 Vol. vi. Chap. i. 1775.
81
There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn. 52
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 53 Vol. vi. Chap. iii. 1776.
82
No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 54 Vol. vi. Chap. iii. 1776.
83
Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 55 Vol. vi. Chap. iv. 1776.
84
A man is very apt to complain of the ingratitude of those who have risen far above him.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 56 Vol. vi. Chap. iv. 1776.
85
All this [wealth] excludes but one evil,—poverty.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 57 Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.
86
Employment, sir, and hardships prevent melancholy.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 58 Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.
87
When a man is tired of London he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 59 Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.
88
He was so generally civil that nobody thanked him for it.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 60 Vol. vi. Chap. ix. 1777.
89
Goldsmith, however, was a man who whatever he wrote, did it better than any other man could do.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 61 Vol. vii. Chap. iii. 1778.
90
Johnson said that he could repeat a complete chapter of “The Natural History of Iceland” from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly thus: “There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island.” 62 [Chap. lxxii.]
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 63 Vol. vii. Chap. iv. 1778.
91
As the Spanish proverb says, “He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him,” so it is in travelling,—a man must carry knowledge with him if he would bring home knowledge.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 64 Vol. vii. Chap. v. 1778.
92
The true, strong, and sound mind is the mind that can embrace equally great things and small.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 65 Vol. vii. Chap. vi. 1778.
93
I remember a passage in Goldsmith’s “Vicar of Wakefield,” which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: “I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing.”… There was another fine passage too which he struck out: “When I was a young man, being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. But I soon gave this over; for I found that generally what was new was false.”
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 66 Vol. vii. Chap. viii. 1779.
94
Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 67 Vol. vii. Chap. viii. 1779.
95
A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 68 Vol. vii. Chap. x.
96
Of Dr. Goldsmith he said, “No man was more foolish when he had not a pen in his hand, or more wise when he had.”
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 69 Vol. vii. Chap. x.
97
The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 70 Vol. vii. Chap. x.
98
The potentiality of growing rich beyond the dreams of avarice. 71
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 72 Vol. viii. Chap. ii.
99
Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 73 Vol. viii. Chap. iii. 1781.
100
My friend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in that character [as an author], he deserved to have his merits handsomely allowed. 74
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 75 Vol. viii. Chap. iii. 1781.
101
I never have sought the world; the world was not to seek me. 76
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 77 Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1783.
102
He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others. 78
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 79 Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1784.
103
You see they ’d have fitted him to a T.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 80 Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1784.
104
I have found you an argument; I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 81 Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1784.
105
Who drives fat oxen should himself be fat. 82
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 83 Vol. viii. Chap. v. 1784.
106
Blown about with every wind of criticism. 84
Life of Johnson (Boswell). 85 Vol. viii. Chap. x. 1784.
107
If the man who turnips cries Cry not when his father dies, ’T is a proof that he had rather Have a turnip than his father.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 30.
108
He was a very good hater.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 39.
109
The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the public.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 58.
110
The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 154.
111
Dictionaries are like watches; the worst is better than none, and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.
Johnsoniana. Piozzi, 178.
112
Books that you may carry to the fire and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all.
Johnsoniana. Hawkins. 197.
113
Round numbers are always false.
Johnsoniana. Hawkins. 235.
114
As with my hat 86 upon my head   I walk’d along the Strand, I there did meet another man   With his hat in his hand. 87
Johnsoniana. George Steevens. 310.
115
Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.
Johnsoniana. Hannah More. 467.
116
The limbs will quiver and move after the soul is gone.
Johnsoniana. Northcote. 487.
117
Hawkesworth said of Johnson, “You have a memory that would convict any author of plagiarism in any court of literature in the world.”
Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 600.
118
His conversation does not show the minute-hand, but he strikes the hour very correctly.
Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 604.
119
Hunting was the labour of the savages of North America, but the amusement of the gentlemen of England.
Johnsoniana. Kearsley. 606.
120
I am very fond of the company of ladies. I like their beauty, I like their delicacy, I like their vivacity, and I like their silence.
Johnsoniana. Seward. 617.
121
This world, where much is to be done and little to be known.
Prayers and Meditations. Against inquisitive and perplexing Thoughts.
122
Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.
Tour to the Hebrides. Sept. 20, 1773.
123
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.
124
The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honourable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience. 88
Pitt’s Reply to Walpole. Speech, March 6, 1741.
125
Towering in the confidence of twenty-one.
Letter to Bennet Langton. Jan. 9, 1758.
126
Gloomy calm of idle vacancy.
Letter to Boswell. Dec. 8, 1763.
127
Wharton quotes Johnson as saying of Dr. Campbell, “He is the richest author that ever grazed the common of literature.”

Note 1. All human race, from China to Peru, Pleasure, howe’er disguised by art, pursue. Thomas Warton: Universal Love of Pleasure. De Quincey (Works, vol. x. p. 72) quotes the criticism of some writer, who contends with some reason that this high-sounding couplet of Dr. Johnson amounts in effect to this: Let observation with extensive observation observe mankind extensively. [back]

Note 2. Nothing in poverty so ill is borne As its exposing men to grinning scorn. Oldham (1653–1683): Third Satire of Juvenal. [back]

Note 3. Three years later Johnson wrote, “Mere unassisted merit advances slowly, if—what is not very common—it advances at all.” [back]

Note 4. Var. His ready help was always nigh. [back]

Note 5. Var. Then with no fiery throbbing pain. [back]

Note 6. Qui nullum fere scribendi genus Non tetigit, Nullum quod tetigit non ornavit. See Chesterfield, Quotation 12. [back]

Note 7. A translation of Boethius’s “De Consolatione Philosophiæ,” iii. 9, 27. [back]

Note 8. See Bacon, Quotation 39. [back]

Note 9. The italics and the word “forget” would seem to imply that the saying was not his own. [back]

Note 10. Sir William Jones gives a similar saying in India: “Words are the daughters of earth, and deeds are the sons of heaven.” See Herbert, Quotation 29. Sir Thomas Bodley: Letter to his Librarian, 1604. [back]

Note 11. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 12. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 13. See Pope, Quotation 200. [back]

Note 14. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 15. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 16. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 17. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 18. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 19. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 20. I do not find that the age or country makes the least difference; no, nor the language the actor spoke, nor the religion which they professed,—whether Arab in the desert, or Frenchman in the Academy. I see that sensible men and conscientious men all over the world were of one religion of well-doing and daring.—Ralph Waldo Emerson: The Preacher. Lectures and Biographical Sketches, p. 215. [back]

Note 21. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 22. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 23. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 24. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 25. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 26. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 27. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 28. Every investigation which is guided by principles of nature fixes its ultimate aim entirely on gratifying the stomach.—Athenæus: Book vii. chap. ii. [back]

Note 29. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 30. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 31. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 32. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 33. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 34. Mr. Kremlin as distinguished for ignorance; for he had only one idea, and that was wrong.—Benjamin Disraeli (Earl Beaconsfield): Sybil, book iv. chap. 5. [back]

Note 35. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 36. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 37. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 38. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 39. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 40. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 41. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 42. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 43. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 44. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 45. See Herbert, Quotation 21. Do not be troubled by Saint Bernard’s saying that hell is full of good intentions and wills.—Francis de Sales: Spiritual Letters. Letter xii. (Translated by the author of “A Dominican Artist.”) 1605. [back]

Note 46. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 47. Scire ubi aliquid invenire possis, ea demum maxima pars eruditionis est (To know where you can find anything, that in short is the largest part of learning).—Anonymous. [back]

Note 48. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 49. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 50. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 51. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 52. Whoe’er has travell’d life’s dull round, Where’er his stages may have been, May sigh to think he still has found The warmest welcome at an inn. William Shenstone: Written on a Window of an Inn. [back]

Note 53. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 54. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 55. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 56. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 57. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 58. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 59. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 60. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 61. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 62. Chapter xlii. is still shorter: “There are no owls of any kind in the whole island.” [back]

Note 63. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 64. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 65. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 66. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 67. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 68. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 69. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 70. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 71. I am rich beyond the dreams of avarice.—Edward Moore: The Gamester, act ii. sc. 2. 1753. [back]

Note 72. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 73. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 74. Usually quoted as “When a nobleman writes a book, he ought to be encouraged.” [back]

Note 75. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 76. I have not loved the world, nor the world me.—Lord Byron: Childe Harold, canto iii. stanza 113. [back]

Note 77. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 78. See Shakespeare, King Henry IV. Part II, Quotation 3. [back]

Note 79. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 80. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 81. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 82. A parody on “Who rules o’er freemen should himself be free,” from Brooke’s “Gustavus Vasa,” first edition. [back]

Note 83. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 84. Carried about with every wind of doctrine.—Ephesians iv. 14. [back]

Note 85. From the London edition, 10 volumes, 1835. Dr. Johnson, it is said, when he first heard of Boswell’s intention to write a life of him, announced, with decision enough, that if he thought Boswell really meant to write his life he would prevent it by taking Boswell’s!—Thomas Carlyle: Miscellanies, Jean Paul Frederic Richter. [back]

Note 86. Elsewhere found, “I put my hat.” [back]

Note 87. A parody on Percy’s “Hermit of Warkworth.” [back]

Note 88. This is the composition of Johnson, founded on some note or statement of the actual speech. Johnson said, “That speech I wrote in a garret, in Exeter Street.” Boswell: Life of Johnson, 1741. [back]