Share & Save
Meaning
Johnson is saying that the certainty of a harsh deadline makes a person focus intensely. Faced with imminent punishment, distractions fall away and the mind turns to what matters most. The quote suggests pressure can sharpen attention in a powerful way.
When It Was Said
1777
Who It Was Said To
Not documented yet.
Historical Context
Cited with a source on Wikiquote: (19 September 1777) p. 351, often misquoted as being hanged in the morning.
Source
(19 September 1777) p. 351, often misquoted as being hanged in the morning.
Original Language & Translation
Originally said in English.
Did They Really Say It?
Listed with a cited source on Wikiquote.
Did You Know?
It is often misquoted as being hanged in the morning.
About Samuel Johnson
English writer and polymath
Samuel Johnson, often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer and polymath. He is best known for his Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1755, a work of 42,733 entries that shaped the study and use of English. Beyond the dictionary, Johnson wrote as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermon writer, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. His reputation rests on the breadth of that work and on his lasting influence on the English language.
More from Samuel Johnson (241 quotes) →Other sayings from Samuel Johnson
- “The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivene…”Samuel Johnson
- “You can't be in politics unless you can walk in a room and know in a minute who's for you and who's against y…”Samuel Johnson
- “Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.”Samuel Johnson
- “The advice that is wanted is commonly not welcome and that which is not wanted, evidently an effrontery.”Samuel Johnson
Focus: more sayings
- “Simplifying the tax code and reducing administrative burdens will save small businesses money and time and le…”Suzan DelBene
- “The biggest thing for me is helping people understand that there is a women's bracket, and you should fill ou…”A'ja Wilson
- “What I like about climbing that it's so broad. For certain periods I can focus on sport climbing and then I c…”Adam Ondra
Explore Death
- “Organ donation is very personal to me. My mother, before her death, was on kidney dialysis for several years.”John Perez
- “It was a wonderful feeling, a sense of release and boundless freedom that he had never known before. He was b…”Michael Ende
- “big-bang reproduction, or semelparity: a single reproductive effort, followed by preprogrammed death.”Jared Diamond