Samuel Johnson Quotes
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Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life, and... the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.
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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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To let friendship die away by negligence and silence, is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to throw away one of the greatest comforts of this weary pilgrimage.
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He that overvalues himself will undervalue others, and he that undervalues others will oppress them.
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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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But, perhaps, the excellence of aphorisms consists not so much in the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment, as in the comprehension of some obvious and useful truth in few words.
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Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.
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As the Spanish proverb says, 'He, who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him.' So it is in travelling; a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.
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The insolence of wealth will creep out.
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When any calamity has been suffered the first thing to be remembered is, how much has been escaped.
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A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.
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What is easy is seldom excellent.
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How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?
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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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That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?
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The true, strong, and sound mind is the mind that can embrace equally great things and small.
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I am very fond of the company of ladies. I like their beauty, I like their delicacy, I like their vivacity, and I like their silence.
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Sir, I have found you an argument; but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
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In lapidary inscriptions a man is not upon oath.
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What makes all doctrines plain and clear? About two hundred pounds a year. And that which was proved true before, prove false again? Two hundred more.
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If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary, be not idle.
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The applause of a single human being is of great consequence.
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The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.
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This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confessed - Slow rises worth, by poverty depressed.