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Samuel Johnson Quotes - Page 3

All Quotes Abstinence Abuse Accidents Achievement Adventure Advertising Affection Age Aging Alcohol Ambition Anxiety Appearance Appreciation Army Arrogance Art Atheism Attitude Authority Being Yourself Belief Benevolence Bitterness Blindness Bravery Business Change Character Charity Childhood Children Choices Church Civility Communication Community Compassion Confidence Consciousness Cooking Corruption Country Courage Crime Criticism Culture Curiosity Darkness Death Deception Defeat Design Desire Determination Devil Difficulty Dignity Disappointment Doubt Drinking Duty Dying Education Effort Elegance Energy English Language Envy Equality Evidence Evil Excellence Exercise Expectations Failing Failure Fame Fashion Fate Fear Feelings Flattery Flight Focus Food Freedom Friends Friendship Funny Future Genius Giving Glory Gold Goodness Grace Gratitude Greatness Grief Grieving Guilt Happiness Hate Hatred Health Heart Heaven History Home Honesty Honor Hope House Humanity Hunger Hurt Husband Hypocrisy Ignorance Imagination Imitation Imperfection Injury Innocence Inspirational Integrity Intelligence Journey Joy Judgement Judging Judgment Justice Kindness Knowledge Labor Language Laughter Laziness Learning Liberty Life Life And Death Life And Love Literature Losing Loss Love Lying Mankind Manners Marriage Meditation Memories Miscarriage Modesty Money Morality Morning Motivational Nature Office Opportunity Originality Overcoming Pain Passion Past Patience Peace Perfection Perseverance Philosophy Pleasure Poetry Politics Positive Positive Thinking Poverty Power Praise Prejudice Preparation Pride Privacy Progress Property Prosperity Prudence Purpose Quality Reading Reality Reflection Regret Rejection Religion Repentance Reputation Resentment Respect Retirement Revenge Revolution Sacrifice Safety Sailing School Science Security Self Esteem Self Love Shame Silence Sin Sleep Sloth Society Solitude Sorrow Soul Spring Struggle Study Stupidity Style Success Suffering Sunshine Talent Teaching Temptation Theatre Time Tragedy Travel Trust Truth Tyranny Uncertainty Understanding Values Violence Virtue Waiting Wall War Water Weakness Wealth Whiskey Wife Wine Winter Wisdom Wit Work Worry Writing Youth

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

Love, Wise, Dream

In William Cooke 'Life of Samuel Foote' (1805) vol. 2, p. 154

Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties.

Success, Work, Pleasure

Samuel Johnson (1848). “The Wisdom of the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler”, p.132

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

Choices, Liberty, Littles

'The Bravery of the English Common Soldier' in 'The British Magazine' January 1760 (Yale ed., vol. 10, p. 283)

Truth allows no choice.

Truth, Choices

Samuel Johnson (1804). “The Lives of the Poets, Etc. [With a Portrait.]”, p.85

Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; and he may be properly charged with evil who refused to learn how he might prevent it.

Ignorance, Evil, Criminals

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson”, p.264

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

Funny, Life, Being Yourself

1750-2 In The Rambler.

Books like friends, should be few and well-chosen.

Inspirational, Friendship, Book

Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives.

Marriage, Men, Wife

No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it.... There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government.

Power, Government, Long

Samuel Johnson (1966). “Johnsonian miscellanies”, Constable

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

Inspirational, Happiness, Knowledge

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.16

A horse that can count to ten is a remarkable horse, not a remarkable mathematician.

Horse, Animal, Mathematician

Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.

Wise, Travel, Passion

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1799). “Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales”, p.103

Knock the 't' off the 'can't.'

Confidence, Insightful

If you are idle, be not solitary; if you are solitary be not idle.

Advice, Solitude, Sloth

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (letter to Boswell, 27 Oct. 1779)

A man's mind grows narrow in a narrow place.

Travel, Men, Mind

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1866). “The Life of Samuel Johnson”, p.165

Sorrow is the mere rust of the soul. Activity will cleanse and brighten it.

Broken Heart, Heartache, Soul

Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden exchange meeting by chance, or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert attention, or diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness had before concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty.

Marriage, Dream, Home

Samuel Johnson, Peter Martin (2009). “Samuel Johnson: Selected Writings”, p.310, Harvard University Press

The disturbers of our happiness, in this world, are our desires, our griefs, and our fears.

Life, Happiness, Grief

"The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752".

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.

Writing, Men, Political

Men who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse.

Men, Hands, Opiates

Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.65

What ever the motive for the insult, it is always best to overlook it; for folly doesn't deserve resentment, and malice is punished by neglect.

Revenge, Resentment, Insult

A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

Family, Forgiveness, Wise

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.278

Grief is a species of idleness.

Grief, Sorrow, Species

Letter to Mrs Thrale, 17 March 1773, in R. W. Chapman (ed.) 'The Letters of Samuel Johnson' (1952) vol. 1

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.

Happiness, Success, Men

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1840). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.249

A contempt of the monuments and the wisdom of the past, may be justly reckoned one of the reigning follies of these days, to which pride and idleness have equally contributed.

Pride, Past, May

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Journey to the Hebrides. Tales of the imagination. Prayers and sermons. Index”, p.356

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