| Samuel Johnson Quotes Famous quotes by Samuel Johnson From All the Best Quotes Famous quotes indexed by Author and Subject Home Subject Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Author Index: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z |
|
Samuel Johnson Quotes The true genius is a mind of large general powers, accidentally determined to some particular direction. Samuel Johnson Those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt. Samuel Johnson Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble. Samuel Johnson He that fails in his endeavours after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage. Samuel Johnson To marry a second time represents the triumph of hope over experience. Samuel Johnson No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money. Samuel Johnson Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Samuel Johnson Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful. Samuel Johnson The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. Samuel Johnson It is reasonable to have perfection in our eye that we may always advance toward it, though we know it can never be reached. Samuel Johnson The business of life is to go forwards. Samuel Johnson This is one of the disadvantages of wine: it makes a man mistake words for thought. Samuel Johnson He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts. Samuel Johnson Prudence keeps life safe, but does not often make it happy. Samuel Johnson Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence. Samuel Johnson The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it. Samuel Johnson A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization. Samuel Johnson The usual fortune for complaint is to excite contempt more than pity. Samuel Johnson Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind. Samuel Johnson Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out. Samuel Johnson No man ever yet became great by imitation. Samuel Johnson A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see. Samuel Johnson I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am. Samuel Johnson The great source of pleasure is variety. Samuel Johnson Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people. Samuel Johnson Much may be made of a Scotsman if he be caught young. Samuel Johnson To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly. Samuel Johnson That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own self-esteem. Samuel Johnson In sovereignty there are no gradations. Samuel Johnson Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. Samuel Johnson Wine makes a man better pleased with himself; I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others. Samuel Johnson Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified. Samuel Johnson Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labour of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price. Samuel Johnson The Irish are a fair people: They never speak well of one another. Samuel Johnson Fly fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other. Samuel Johnson Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Samuel Johnson All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance. Samuel Johnson Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled. Samuel Johnson Abstinence is as easy to me, as temperance would be difficult. Samuel Johnson Avarice is generally the last passion of those lives of which the first part has been squandered in pleasure, and the second devoted to ambition. He that sinks under the fatigue of getting wealth, lulls his age with the milder business of saving it. Samuel Johnson When any calamity has been suffered, the first thing to be remembered is how much has been escaped. Samuel Johnson You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford. Samuel Johnson Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking. Samuel Johnson Employment, sir, and hardships prevent melancholy. Samuel Johnson If a man does not make new acquaintance as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant repair. Samuel Johnson I look upon every day to be lost, in which I do not make a new acquaintance. Samuel Johnson Our aspirations are our possibilities. Samuel Johnson Affectation is to be always distinguished from hypocrisy as being the art of counterfeiting those qualities, which we might with innocence and safety, be known to want. Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy; affectation part of the chosen trappings of folly. Samuel Johnson The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape. Samuel Johnson Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again. Samuel Johnson Power is always gradually stealing away from the many to the few, because the few are more vigilant and consistent. Samuel Johnson It is in refinement and elegance that the civilized man differs from the savage. Samuel Johnson It was his peculiar happiness that he scarcely ever found a stranger whom he did not leave a friend; but it must likewise be added, that he had not often a friend long without obliging him to become a stranger. Samuel Johnson More knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a formal and studied narrative begun with his pedigree and ended with his funeral. Samuel Johnson Claret is the liquor for boys; port, for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. Samuel Johnson | |