Samuel Johnson Quotes About Politics

• I have always said the first Whig was the Devil.

  Samuel Johnson

  Devil, Politics, Firsts

  In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 3, p. 326 (28 April 1778)

• Of all kinds of credulity, the most obstinate is that of party-spirit; of men, who, being numbered, they know not why, in any party, resign the use of their own eyes and ears, and resolve to believe nothing that does not favor those whom they profess to follow.

  Samuel Johnson

  Party, Believe, Eye

• No man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannize, and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, Emotional, Political

  Samuel Johnson (1846). “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia: A Tale”, p.144

• If the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up, and claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.

  Samuel Johnson

  Rights, Political, Abuse

  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.373

• I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

  Samuel Johnson

  Happiness, Government, Giving

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 31 Mar. 1772)

• Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in politics, and their whole conduct proceeds upon it.

  Samuel Johnson

  Mean, Men, Views

  Samuel Johnson (1798). “Dr. Johnson's Table Talk: Containing Aphorisms on Literature, Life, and Manners; with Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, Selected and Arranged from Dr. Boswell's Life of Johnson”, p.191

• Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world.

  Samuel Johnson

  Mean, Liberty, Rising

  In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 2, p. 369 (18 April 1775)

• The inevitable consequence of poverty is dependence.

  Samuel Johnson

  Wisdom, Politics, Poverty

  Samuel Johnson, Roger H. Lonsdale (2006). “Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Poets”, p.117, Oxford University Press

• It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.

  Samuel Johnson

  Happiness, Equality, Egalitarianism

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 7 Apr. 1776)

• So many objections may be made to everything, that nothing can overcome them but the necessity of doing something.

  Samuel Johnson

  Political, Overcoming, May

  "Johnson. History Of Rasselas, Prince Of Abyssinia, Ed. With Intr. And Notes By G.b. Hill".

• He that shall peruse the political pamphlets of any past reign will wonder why they were so eagerly read, or so loudly praised.

  Samuel Johnson

  Past, Political, Politics

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1820). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: A New Edition in Twelve Volumes, to which is Prefixed, an Essay on His Life and Genius, by Arthur Murphy, Esq. Containing Rambler vol. 1-3”, p.224

• In all political regulations, good cannot be complete, it can only be predominant.

  Samuel Johnson

  Political, Politics, Regulation

  Samuel Johnson (1819). “The Beauties of Samuel Johnson: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous”, p.125

• In such a government as ours no man is appointed to an office because he is the fittest for it--nor hardly in any other government--because there are so many connections and dependencies to be studied.

  Samuel Johnson

  Men, Office, Connections

  James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1888). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Together with A Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides”

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