Samuel Johnson Quotes About Work

• Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties.

  Samuel Johnson

  Success, Work, Pleasure

  Samuel Johnson (1848). “The Wisdom of the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler”, p.132

• No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.

  Samuel Johnson

  Art, Money, Work

  Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 5 Apr. 1776)

• If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

  Samuel Johnson

  Motivational, Perseverance, Determination

  Samuel Johnson (1834). “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia: A Tale”, p.14

• All intellectual improvement arises from leisure.

  Samuel Johnson

  Work, Intellectual, Statistics

  In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 2, p. 219 (13 April 1773)

• It is wonderful when a calculation is made, how little the mind is actually employed in the discharge of any profession.

  Samuel Johnson

  Work, Mind, Littles

  In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 2, p. 344 (6 April 1775)

• You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.

  Samuel Johnson

  Money, Work, Luxury

  Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1825). “The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson: Comprising Opinions and Anecdotes of Life and Literature, Men, Manners, and Morals”, p.106

• He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

  Samuel Johnson

  Courage, Honesty, Work

  Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: with Murphy's essay”, p.82

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