Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, (23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration, to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II and subsequently King James II.
His influence and reforms at the Admiralty were important in the early professionalisation of the Royal Navy.
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The last entry to Samuel Pepys’s diary was recorded on 31 May 1669. The cessation of his diary keeping after 9 and a half years was due to a deteriorating eyesight.
And so to bed. – Samuel Pepys
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Most of their discourse was about hunting, in a dialect I understand very little. – Samuel Pepys
My wife, who, poor wretch, is troubled with her lonely life. – Samuel Pepys
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Strange to say what delight we married people have to see these poor fools decoyed into our condition. – Samuel Pepys
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Strange to see how a good dinner and feasting reconciles everybody. – Samuel Pepys