Samuel Johnson Quotes
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In order that all men may be taught to speak the truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.
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I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man's virtues the means of deceiving him.
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When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
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A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself.
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The greater, far the greater number of those who rave and rail, and inquire and accuse, neither suspect nor fear, nor care for the publick; but hope to force their way to riches, by virulence and invective, and are vehement and clamorous, only that they may be sooner hired to be silent.
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I have always suspected that the reading is right, which requires many words to prove it wrong; and the emendation wrong, that cannot without so much labour appear to he right.
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When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
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He who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else.
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Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates.
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There are charms made only for distant admiration.
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To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.
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The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne.
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Books like friends, should be few and well-chosen.
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Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure.
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No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.
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ESSAY - A loose sally of the mind; an irregular indigested piece; not a regular and orderly composition.
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Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is bestowed.
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If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.
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Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.
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It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives. The act of dying is not of importance, it lasts so short a time.
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Getting money is not all a man's business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.
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Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.
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It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.
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Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid us of our time, which will never return.