You’ve probably heard of the dictionary. Obviously. But you might not know the absolute wreck of a man who basically built the English language as we know it today. Samuel Johnson wasn't some stuffy academic sitting in a climate-controlled ivory tower. He was a giant, twitching, scarred, tea-obsessed Londoner who lived in a state of perpetual messy chaos.
The life of Samuel Johnson is a masterclass in how to succeed when the world seems determined to crush you. He was born in 1709 in Lichfield, and honestly, the start was rough. He had scrofula—a nasty form of tuberculosis that affected the lymph nodes—which left him with deep scars on his face and neck. He was blind in one eye. He was deaf in one ear.
People stared. He didn't care. Well, he cared, but he kept moving.
The Grub Street Grind and the Dictionary
London in the 1700s was disgusting. It was loud, smelly, and dangerous, and Johnson was right in the thick of it. He spent years as a "hack writer." That sounds insulting now, but back then, it was just the reality of the "Grub Street" life. You wrote or you starved. He wrote parliamentary reports without actually attending Parliament—basically just making up what he thought the politicians should have said.
Then came the big one.
In 1746, a group of booksellers approached him. They wanted a dictionary. The French had forty scholars working for forty years to finish theirs. Johnson looked at them and basically said, "I can do it in three."
It took nine.
He did it almost entirely by himself in an attic on Gough Square. No computers. No Wikipedia. Just a massive pile of books, some ink, and a few assistants to help with the copying. When his A Dictionary of the English Language finally dropped in 1755, it changed everything. It wasn't just a list of words; it was a work of art.
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He didn't just define words; he gave them personality. Take his definition of "Oats": A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people. That’s not a definition. That’s a 18th-century "burn."
Tourette’s, Tea, and Total Eccentricity
If you met Johnson on the street, you’d probably think he was having some kind of episode. Modern doctors, looking back at the accounts from his friends like James Boswell and Frances Reynolds, are almost certain he had Tourette syndrome. He made weird clucking noises. He spun in circles when he crossed doorways. He’d suddenly start blowing out his breath like a whale.
He was a physical mess. He wore a wig that was usually singed because he read with books too close to the candle. He was legendary for his tea consumption. We’re talking 15 to 20 cups in a single sitting.
But his mind? Razor sharp.
He founded "The Club," which was basically the Avengers of 18th-century intellectual life. You had Joshua Reynolds (the painter), Edmund Burke (the statesman), Adam Smith (the economist), and David Garrick (the actor). Johnson was the sun they all orbited. He could talk about anything. Chemistry? Check. Theology? Check. How to properly butcher a pig? He had thoughts on that too.
The Tragedy Behind the Wit
It wasn't all witty banter and tea parties. Johnson suffered from what he called "the black dog." Severe, paralyzing depression. He was terrified of death and even more terrified of losing his mind.
His wife, Tetty, was twenty years older than him. He loved her deeply, but their marriage was... complicated. When she died in 1752, he was devastated. He kept her wedding ring in a little box and prayed for her soul every single day for the rest of his life.
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He also had a weirdly beautiful living situation. His house was a "menagerie of the unfortunate." He took in a blind poet named Anna Williams, a destitute doctor named Robert Levet, and a former slave named Francis Barber. Barber wasn't just a servant; Johnson treated him like a son, paid for his education, and eventually left him almost his entire estate.
This tells you more about the life of Samuel Johnson than the dictionary ever could. He was a man of immense empathy who couldn't stand to see people suffer, probably because he had suffered so much himself.
Why We Still Quote Him
Why does a guy who died in 1784 still show up in your Instagram captions? Because he was the king of the "one-liner."
- "When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford."
- "No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money."
- "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance."
He understood the human condition. He knew we were all just trying to get through the day without looking like idiots. He was the first person to treat biography like a real thing, rather than just a puff piece for rich people. He insisted that if you’re going to write about someone, you have to include the warts, the failures, and the times they were absolute jerks.
The Misconception of the "Stuffy" Victorian
A lot of people lump Johnson in with the Victorians. Wrong. He was a Georgian. The Georgians were way more fun, way more violent, and way more honest. Johnson lived in a world of public hangings and gin-soaked alleys. He once beat up two men who tried to rob him. He was a big guy—over six feet tall and built like a linebacker. He wasn't a "nerd" in the modern sense. He was a powerhouse.
Lessons from the Great Moralist
So, what do you actually do with all this? How does knowing about a 300-year-old writer help you today?
First, look at his work ethic. The Dictionary was a mountain of a task. He didn't wait for "inspiration." He sat down and wrote. Every day. Even when he was depressed. Even when he was sick.
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Second, look at his radical kindness. In an era where social hierarchy was everything, he made a black man his heir and filled his house with "unadoptable" people. He practiced what he preached about charity.
Third, embrace the weirdness. Johnson was a twitching, humming, tea-drinking oddball, and he became the most respected intellectual in England. You don't have to be "normal" to be great.
How to Experience Johnson Today
If you want to dive deeper, don't just read a Wikipedia page.
- Read Boswell’s "Life of Johnson" – It’s considered the greatest biography in the English language. It’s long, sure, but you can dip in and out. It’s like listening to a podcast of the 1770s.
- Visit 17 Gough Square – His house in London is still there. You can stand in the attic where the dictionary was written. It’s one of the few places in London that still feels like the 18th century.
- Look up his "Definitions" – Buy a condensed version of the 1755 Dictionary. It’s hilarious. Some of his definitions are just him ranting about things he hates.
- Practice "The Club" mentality – Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you in different fields. Don't just hang out with people who do exactly what you do.
The life of Samuel Johnson teaches us that your starting point doesn't dictate your finish line. You can be scarred, broke, and struggling with mental health, and still build something that lasts for centuries.
He was a man who lived loudly. He ate too much, talked too much, and felt too much. But in doing so, he gave us the tools to understand ourselves. Next time you look up a word, give a little nod to the big guy with the singed wig and the cup of tea. He earned it.
Next Steps for the Johnson Enthusiast:
To truly understand Johnson’s impact, start by reading his essay "The Rambler No. 4," where he argues that fiction has a moral responsibility to its readers. After that, pick up a copy of Rasselas, his only novel, which he famously wrote in a single week to pay for his mother’s funeral. It’s a short, cynical, yet strangely comforting look at the "choice of life" and why we’re never quite as happy as we think we should be. Finally, if you're in London, head to Fleet Street and grab a pint at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese; while there's no hard proof he sat in that exact spot, the atmosphere is exactly what he would have recognized.