Samuel Johnson Quotes
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Milton, Madam, was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones.
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Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise!From Marlb'rough's eyes the streams of dotage flow,And Swift expires, a driv'ler and a show.
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There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed.
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In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.
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Always, Sir, set a high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord, will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you.
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There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.
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The Churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.
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Hawkesworth said of Johnson, 'You have a memory that would convict any author of plagiarism in any court of literature in the world.'
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Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes,And pause a while from learning to be wise.There mark what ills the scholar's life assail - Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail.
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The poet must write as the interpreter of nature and the legislator of mankind, and consider himself as presiding over the thoughts and manners of future generations, as a being superior to time and place.
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As with my hat upon my headI walk'd along the Strand,I there did meet another manWith his hat in his hand.
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The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth.
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Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable, and others extremely difficult.
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I am inclined to believe that few attacks either of ridicule or invective make much noise, but by the help of those they provoke.
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When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.
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There Poetry shall tune her sacred voice,And wake from ignorance the Western World.
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He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others.
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Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise.
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Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.
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Here's to the next insurrection of the negroes in the West Indies.
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He that overvalues himself will undervalue others, and he that undervalues others will oppress them.
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Mrs. Montagu has dropt me. Now, Sir, there are people whom one should like very well to drop, but would not wish to be dropped by.
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No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.
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I refute it thus.