Samuel Johnson Quotes
-
It is always observable that silence propagates itself, and that the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find any thing to say.
-
Questioning is not the mode of conversation among gentlemen.
-
That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.
-
Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
-
Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney.'
-
A man used to vicissitudes is not easily dejected.
-
When learning's triumph o'er her barb'rous foesFirst reared the stage, immortal Shakespeare rose;Each change of many-colored life he drew,Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new:Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign,And panting Time toiled after him in vain.
-
The unjustifiable severity of a parent is loaded with this aggravation, that those whom he injures are always in his sight.
-
To get a name can happen but to few; it is one of the few things that cannot be brought. It is the free gift of mankind, which must be deserved before it will be granted, and is at last unwillingly bestowed.
-
LEXICOGRAPHER - A writer of dictionaries, a harmless drudge.
-
Wretched un-idea'd girls.
-
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.
-
I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.
-
New things are made familiar, and familiar things are made new.
-
I Boswell happened to say, it would be terrible if he should not find a speedy opportunity of returning to London, and be confined in so dull a place. JOHNSON: 'Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to use big words for little matters. It would not be terrible, though I were to be detained some time here.'
-
A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated, has not the art of getting drunk.
-
Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.
-
Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.
-
'Enlarge my life with multitude of days!'In health, in sickness, thus the suppliant prays:Hides from himself his state, and shuns to knowThat life protracted is protracted woe.
-
My friend was of opinion that when a man of rank appeared in that character as an author, he deserved to have his merit handsomely allowed.
-
Some claim a place in the list of patriots, by an acrimonious and unremitting opposition to the court. This mark is by no means infallible. Patriotism is not necessarily included in rebellion. A man may hate his king, yet not love his country.
-
The world is not yet exhausted: let me see something to-morrow which I never saw before.
-
For patience, sov'reign o'er transmuted ill.
-
Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.