Samuel Johnson Quotes
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There is in this world no real delight (excepting those of sensuality), but exchange of ideas in conversation.
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Attack is the reaction; I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.
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Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.
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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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I do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject.
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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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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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This mournful truth is ev'rywhere confessed - Slow rises worth, by poverty depressed.
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While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.
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A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority.
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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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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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Sir, your levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.
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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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Everything that enlarges the sphere of human powers, that shows man he can do what he thought he could not do, is valuable.
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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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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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When any calamity has been suffered the first thing to be remembered is, how much has been escaped.
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There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed.
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When a man says he had pleasure with a woman he does not mean conversation.
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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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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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The act of writing itself distracts the thoughts, and what is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.
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Here's to the next insurrection of the negroes in the West Indies.