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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.
Samuel Johnson -
The insolence of wealth will creep out.
Samuel Johnson
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Milton, Madam, was a genius that could cut a Colossus from a rock; but could not carve heads upon cherry-stones.
Samuel Johnson -
There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten.
Samuel Johnson -
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.
Samuel Johnson -
Books that you carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are most useful after all.
Samuel Johnson -
Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse with him.
Samuel Johnson -
Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.
Samuel Johnson
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I remember very well, when I was at Oxford, an old gentleman said to me, 'Young man, ply your book diligently now, and acquire a stock of knowledge; for when years come upon you, you will find that poring upon books will be but an irksome task.'
Samuel Johnson -
Johnson said that he could repeat a complete chapter of 'The Natural History of Iceland' from the Danish of Horrebow, the whole of which was exactly thus: 'There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island.' 62 Chap. lxxii.
Samuel Johnson -
Sir, I think all Christians, whether Papists or Protestants, agree in the essential articles, and that their differences are trivial, and rather political than religious.
Samuel Johnson -
Everything that enlarges the sphere of human powers, that shows man he can do what he thought he could not do, is valuable.
Samuel Johnson -
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.
Samuel Johnson -
The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the present moment, and losing itself in schemes of future felicity... The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.
Samuel Johnson
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Sherry is dull, naturally dull; but it must have taken him a great deal of pains to become what we now see him. Such an excess of stupidity, sir, is not in Nature.
Samuel Johnson -
When any calamity has been suffered the first thing to be remembered is, how much has been escaped.
Samuel Johnson -
Attack is the reaction; I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds.
Samuel Johnson -
A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.
Samuel Johnson -
Of Lord Chesterfield This man, I thought, had been a Lord among wits; but, I find, he is only a wit among Lords!
Samuel Johnson -
You can't be in politics unless you can walk in a room and know in a minute who's for you and who's against you.
Samuel Johnson
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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.
Samuel Johnson -
The atrocious crime of being a young man, which the honourable gentleman has with such spirit and decency charged upon me, I shall neither attempt to palliate nor deny; but content myself with wishing that I may be one of those whose follies may cease with their youth, and not of that number who are ignorant in spite of experience.
Samuel Johnson -
What is easy is seldom excellent.
Samuel Johnson -
I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government other than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.
Samuel Johnson