“Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.”
― Samuel Johnson
“I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.”
― Samuel Johnson
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.”
― Samuel Johnson
“A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it.”
― Samuel Johnson
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.”
― Samuel Johnson
“My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good. ”
― Samuel Johnson
“I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.”
― Samuel Johnson
“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”
― Samuel Johnson
“There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Whoever thinks of going to bed before twelve o’clock is a scoundrel.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Hell is paved with good intentions.”
― Samuel Johnson
“I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.”
― Samuel Johnson
“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write: a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
― Samuel Johnson
“It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.”
― Samuel Johnson
“You raise your voice when you should reinforce your argument.”
― Samuel Johnson
“What we hope ever to do with ease, we must first learn to do with diligence.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content. No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring: no man can, at the same time, fill his cup from the source and from the mouth of the Nile.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Nothing […] will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome.”
― Samuel Johnson
“To keep your secret is wisdom, but to expect others to keep it is folly.”
― Samuel Johnson
“It is necessary to hope… for hope itself is happiness.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Allow children to be happy in their own way, for what better way will they find?”
― Samuel Johnson
“Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.”
― Samuel Johnson
“My dear friend, clear your mind of cant [excessive thought]. You may talk as other people do: you may say to a man, “Sir, I am your most humble servant.” You are not his most humble servant. You may say, “These are bad times; it is a melancholy thing to be reserved to such times.” You don’t mind the times … You may talk in this manner; it is a mode of talking in Society; but don’t think foolishly.”
― Samuel Johnson
“This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.”
― Samuel Johnson
“A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Sir, I did not count your glasses of wine, why should you number up my cups of tea?”
― Samuel Johnson
“While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.”
― Samuel Johnson
“People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.”
― Samuel Johnson
“You can never be wise unless you love reading.”
― Samuel Johnson
“The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Justice is my being allowed to do whatever I like. Injustice is whatever prevents my doing so.”
― Samuel Johnson
“He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Prejudice, not being founded on reason, cannot be removed by argument.”
― Samuel Johnson
“If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary be not idle.”
― Samuel Johnson
“The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Getting money is not all a man’s business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.”
― Samuel Johnson
“a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who has, for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning.”
― Samuel Johnson
“The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it.”
― Samuel Johnson
“It is better to live rich than to die rich. ”
― Samuel Johnson
“Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise. ”
― Samuel Johnson
“A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.”
― Samuel Johnson
“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
― Samuel Johnson