Samuel Johnson Quotes - Page 15

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The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little.

The joy of life is variety; the tenderest love requires to be rekindled by intervals of absence.

No degree of knowledge attainable by man is able to set him above the want of hourly assistance.

To read, write, and converse in due proportions, is, therefore, the business of a man of letters.

He that teaches us anything which we knew not before is undoubtedly to be reverenced as a master.

The wise man applauds he who he thinks most virtuous; the rest of the world applauds the wealthy.

His death eclipsed the gayety of nations, and impoverished the public stock of harmless pleasure.

He that voluntarily continues in ignorance, is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces.

To forget, or pretend to do so, to return a borrowed article, is the meanest sort of petty theft.

An exotic and irrational entertainment, which has been always combated, and always has prevailed.

Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess.

Happiness," said he, "must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty.

Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.

Oratory is the power of beating down your adversary's arguments and putting better in their place.

I have always considered a clergyman as the father of a larger family than he is able to maintain.

I hope I shall never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat, by the menaces of a ruffian.

No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring.

In the bottle discontent seeks for comfort, cowardice for courage, and bashfulness for confidence.

The peculiar doctrine of Christianity is that of a universal sacrifice and perpetual propitiation.

There seems to be a strange affectation in authors of appearing to have done everything by chance.

People may be taken in once, who imagine that an author is greater in private life than other men.

Instead of rating the man by his performances, we rate too frequently the performances by the man.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

Age looks with anger on the temerity of youth, and youth with contempt on the scrupulosity of age.

If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.

Levellers wish to level down as far as themselves; but they cannot bear levelling up to themselves.

Tears are often to be found where there is little sorrow, and the deepest sorrow without any tears.

Truth, such as is necessary to the reputation of life, is always found where it is honestly sought.

I doubt if there ever was a man who was not gratified by being told that he was liked by the women.

When any calamity has been suffered the first thing to be remembered is, how much has been escaped.

The habit of looking on the bright side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year.

Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he does not possess.

Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all.

Liberty is, to the lowest rank of every nation, little more than the choice of working or starving.

Every cold empirick, when his heart is expanded by a successful experiment, swells into a theorist.

There may be community of material possessions, but there can never be community of love or esteem.

The gloomy and the resentful are always found among those who have nothing to do or who do nothing.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He that overvalues himself will undervalue others, and he that undervalues others will oppress them.

It is as foolish to make experiments upon the constancy of a friend, as upon the chastity of a wife.

Pride is a vice, which pride itself inclines every man to find in others, and to overlook in himself

He who would govern his actions by the laws of virtue must regulate his thoughts by those of reason.

Human happiness has always its abatements; the brightest sunshine of success is not without a cloud.

To hear complaints with patience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the duties of friendship.

I inherited a vile melancholy from my father, which has made me mad all my life, at least not sober.

His most frequent ailment was the headache which he used to relieve by inhaling the steam of coffee.

Ah! Sir, a boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world against him.

Sir, when you have seen one green field, you have seen all green fields. Let us walk down Cheapside.

Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others.

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