Samuel Johnson Quotes About Religion

• Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument.

  Samuel Johnson

  Religion, Atheism, Prejudice

• God Himself, sir, does not propose to judge a man until his life is over. Why should you and I?

  Samuel Johnson

  Atheist, Inspiration, Men

• 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 Scotsman to draw the trigger at his death.

  Samuel Johnson

  Fire, Religion, Coward

  "The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D". Book by James Boswell, 1791.

• 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

  Mind, Religion, Church

  Samuel Johnson (1819). “The Beauties of Samuel Johnson: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous”, p.239

• 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.

  Samuel Johnson

  Christian, Religious, Thinking

  James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1799). “Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Johnson's Diary of a Journey Into North Wales”, p.469

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

  Samuel Johnson

  Life, Trust, Believe

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1840). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.433

• Piety practiced in solitude, like the flower that blooms in the desert, may give its fragrance to the winds of heaven, and delight those unbodied spirits that survey the works of God and the actions of men; but it bestows no assistance upon earthly beings, and however free from taints of impurity, yet wants the sacred splendor of beneficence.

  Samuel Johnson

  Flower, Men, Wind

  Samuel Johnson (1912). “The works of Samuel Johnson”

• To be of no Church is dangerous.

  Samuel Johnson

  Religion, Church, Dangerous

  Samuel Johnson (1811). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, L. L. D.: In Twelve Volumes”, p.134

• The duties of religion, sincerely and regularly performed, will always be sufficient to exalt the meanest and to exercise the highest understanding.

  Samuel Johnson

  Exercise, Understanding, Religion

  Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.105

• I will take no more physick, not even my opiates; for I have prayed that I may render up my soul to God unclouded.

  Samuel Johnson

  Soul, Religion, Dying

  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.409

• Life of Ages, richly poured,
  Love of God unspent and free,
  Flowing in the Prophet's word
  And the People's liberty!
  
  Never was to chosen race
  That unstinted tide confined;
  Thine is every time and place,
  Fountain sweet of heart and mind!

  Samuel Johnson

  Sweet, Heart, Race

  Samuel Johnson (1865). “Hymns of the Spirit”, p.436

• Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity.

  Samuel Johnson

  Perfection, Humanity, Religion

  Samuel Johnson (2014). “The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Volume I: 1731-1772”, p.269, Princeton University Press

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