Samuel Johnson? C. S. Lewis? Peggy Noonan? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: People often know what they should be doing. A didactic lecture is not required. Instead, a simple reminder is adequate to inspire appropriate action. Here are four examples from a family of pertinent sayings:
(1) Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
(2) People require more to be reminded than informed.
(3) Mankind in general stand more in need of being reminded than instructed.
(4) People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.
This saying has been credited to English lexicographer Samuel Johnson and British fantasy writer C. S. Lewis. Would you please explore this topic?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 1750 Samuel Johnson began to publish the periodical “The Rambler”. The second issue contained the following passage. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
What is new is opposed, because most are unwilling to be taught; and what is known is rejected, because it is not sufficiently considered, that men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
The learned are afraid to declare their opinion early, lest they should put their reputation in hazard; the ignorant always imagine themselves giving some proof of delicacy, when they refuse to be pleased . . .
QI believes that Samuel Johnson deserves credit for initiating this family of sayings. The saying evolved over time, and Johnson often received credit for variant phrasings.
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 1807 “The Observer” newspaper of London ascribed a different version of the saying to Samuel Johnson which used the word “people” instead of “men”: 2
Dr. Johnson well observed, that people require more to be reminded than informed.
In 1832 “The Norfolk Chronicle” of Norwich, England printed a letter to the editor from a correspondent who used the handle “An Englishman”. The letter included a version of the saying using the word ‘instructed”:3
It has been well observed that mankind in general stand more in need of being reminded than instructed.
Also, in 1832 “The Sydney Herald” of Australia published a letter from “Pro Bono Publico” which credited Johnson with another variant:4
Doctor Johnson observes that mankind require to be more frequently reminded, than instructed, therefore I do not pretend to teach, but only to remind.
In 1855 the “Liverpool Mercury” printed an instance which was ascribed to a “great writer”:5
It is the saying of a great writer, that men need more frequently to be reminded than informed.
In 1872 a newspaper in Port Huron, Michigan printed an instance using the word “oftener”:6
Men need to be reminded oftener than instructed about their duty. It is easier to learn what we ought to do than it is to remember to do it at the right time.
In 1890 The Nottingham Evening Post of England credited Johnson with yet another version of the saying:7
It has been given before, but Dr. Johnson says, men more often require to be reminded than instructed.
In 1928 C. S. Lewis wrote a letter to his brother which ascribed an instance using the words “people” and “instructed” to Samuel Johnson:8
You know that the Rambler is a mass of moral platitudes—and infuriates the French critics who say that they haven’t come to their time of life to be told that life is short and that wasted time can never be recovered. Johnson, anticipating that kind of objection, simply remarks, ‘People more frequently require to be reminded than instructed’. What more is there to say?
In 1945 “Kirkintilloch Herald” of Scotland published the following:9
As Dr. Samuel Johnson puts it: “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” It is, I take it, the proper office of the pulpit to remind you, the governors and the governed, of the simple principles of Christian conduct.
In 1954 “Major British Writers” contained an accurate instance of the quotation and attribution:10
Some truths, Johnson believed, are too important to be new. The most important truths have been known for a very long time. They require always to be restated. And because, as he says, of themselves “they raise no unaccustomed emotion in the mind,” one of the paramount uses of literature is to restate them in fresh and varied ways, so that they may be vividly and meaningfully re-experienced. “Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”
In 2000 “The Times Book of Quotations” also contained an accurate version of the quotation together with a citation:11
Johnson, Samuel (1709-1784) English lexicographer, poet, critic, conversationalist and essayist
Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
The Rambler (1750-1752)
In 2012 the journal “Contemporary Review” of Oxford, England printed an instance with the word “instructed”:12
Dr Johnson’s famous dictum that ‘men more often need to be reminded than instructed’ . . .
In summary, Samuel Johnson crafted this saying and published it in “The Rambler” in 1750. Several variant expressions evolved over time. C. S. Lewis and Peggy Noonan used versions of this saying, but both credited Samuel Johnson.
Image Notes: Picture of “To Do” lists which are used to remind people of tasks that must be performed. The image is from geralt at Pixabay. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: This article was inspired by an X-twitter thread which mentioned the confusion between versions of the saying which used the words “informed” and “instructed”. Thanks to the thread participants.
- 1752, The Rambler, (Periodical by Samuel Johnson), Volume 1, Number 2, Issue Date: March 24, 1750, Quote Page 17 and 18, Printed for J. Payne and J. Bouquet, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩︎
- 1807 July 5, The Observer, (Untitled article), Quote Page 3, Column 1, London, England. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1832 June 16, The Norfolk Chronicle, Section: Letters to the Editor, Date of Letter: June 4, 1832, From: An Englishman, Quote Page 3, Column 1, Norfolk, England. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
- 1832 September 6, The Sydney Herald, Section: Letters to the Editors, Letter From: Pro Bono Publico, Quote Page 3, Column 3, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1855 October 19, Liverpool Mercury, The Municipal Election, Quote Page 6, Column 1, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1872 December 4, Port Huron Daily Times, Insurance: Delays are Dangerous, (From the Independent), Quote Page 2, Column 2, Port Huron, Michigan. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 1890 January 17, The Nottingham Evening Post, (Untitled Article), Quote Page 2, Column 3, Nottinghamshire, England. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
- 1966, Letters of C. S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis), Edited by W. H. Lewis (Warren Hamilton Lewis), Date of letter: August 2, 1928, Letter To: Brother of C. S. Lewis, Quote Page 128, Harcourt, Brace & World, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 1945 November 28, Kirkintilloch Herald, Kirkin’ O’ The Town Council: Address By Rev. P. P. Brodie, Quote Page 4, Column 1, Dunbartonshire, Scotland. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩︎
- 1954 Copyright, Major British Writers, Volume 2, General Editor: G. B. Harrison (University of Michigan), Section: Samuel Johnson & James Boswell, Section edited by Bertrand H. Bronson, Quote Page 15, Column 2, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2000, The Times Book of Quotations, Section: forgetting, Quote Page 285, HarperCollins, Glasgow, United Kingdom. (Verified on with hardcopy) ↩︎
- 2012 June, Contemporary Review, Volume 294, Issue 1705, A Good Introduction To the Remarkable Oscar Wilde by Stephen Wade, (Book review of “Oscar Wilde” by Ruth Robbins), Start Page 237, Quote Page 238,Contemporary Review, Oxford, England. (ProQuest) ↩︎