Samuel Johnson Quotes
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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.
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Sir, there is no settling the point of precedency between a louse and a flea.
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Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
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Paradise Lost is a book that, once put down, is very hard to pick up again.
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If pleasure was not followed by pain, who would forbear it?
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I am willing to love all mankind, except an American.
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Many things difficult to design prove easy to performance.
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A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.
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It is dangerous for mortal beauty, or terrestrial virtue, to be examined by too strong a light. The torch of Truth shows much that we cannot, and all that we would not, see.
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Promise, large promise, is the soul of an advertisement.
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Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.
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It is better to live rich than to die rich.
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Leisure and curiosity might soon make great advances in useful knowledge, were they not diverted by minute emulation and laborious trifles.
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Words are but the signs of ideas.
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A lady once asked him how he came to define 'pastern', the knee of a horse: instead of making an elaborate defence, as might be expected, he at once answered, 'Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance.'
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You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.
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There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either.
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Language is the dress of thought.
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When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.
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Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.
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It generally happens that assurance keeps an even pace with ability.
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By seeing London, I have seen as much of life as the world can show.
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The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.
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You teach your daughters the diameters of the planets and wonder when you are done that they do not delight in your company.