Top 25 Quotes by Samuel Johnson of 1744 - Page 7

It very seldom happens to a man that his business is his pleasure.

It very seldom happens to a man that his business is his pleasure.

Samuel Johnson

Business, Men, Pleasure

Samuel Johnson (1851). “The beauties of Johnson: choice selections from his works”, p.33

It is common to overlook what is near by keeping the eye fixed on something remote.

Samuel Johnson

Eye, Common, Fixed

The power of punishment is to silence, not to confute.

Samuel Johnson

Punishment, Silence

Samuel Johnson (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.”, p.499

The dangers gather as the treasures rise.

Samuel Johnson

Gold, Treasure, Danger

Oliver Goldsmith, Tobias Smollett, Samuel Johnson, William Shenstone (1861). “Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Tobias Smollett, Samuel Johnson and William Shenstone”

It is no matter what you teach them first, any more than what leg you shall put into your breeches first. You may stand disputing which is best to put in first, but in the mean time your breech is bare. Sir, while you are considering which of two things you should teach your child first, another boy has learned them both.

Samuel Johnson

Education, Children, Mean

Samuel Johnson (1807). “Dr. Johnson's Table-talk: Containing Aphorisms on Literature, Life, and Manners, with Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, Selected and Arranged from Mr. Boswell's Life of Johnson”, p.59

Life is but short; no time can be afforded but for the indulgence of real sorry, or contests upon questions seriously momentous. Let us not throw away any of our days upon useless resentment, or contend who shall hold out longest in stubborn malignity. It is best not to be angry; and best, in the next place, to be quickly reconciled.

Samuel Johnson

Sorry, Real, Anger

Samuel Johnson (2014). “The Letters of Samuel Johnson, Volume II: 1773-1776”, p.360, Princeton University Press

We go from anticipation to anticipation, not from satisfaction to satisfaction.

Samuel Johnson

Satisfaction, Anticipation

In the motive lies the good or ill.

Samuel Johnson

Lying, Motive, Ill

[C]ourage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.

Samuel Johnson

Meaningful, Courage, Men

Samuel Johnson (1798). “Dr. Johnson's Table Talk: Containing Aphorisms on Literature, Life, and Manners; with Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, Selected and Arranged from Dr. Boswell's Life of Johnson”, p.126

He that accepts protection, stipulates obedience.

Samuel Johnson

Freedom, Democracy, Protection

Thomas M. Curley, Samuel Johnson (1998). “Sir Robert Chambers: Law, Literature, and Empire in the Age of Johnson”, p.125, Univ of Wisconsin Press

Life consists not of a series of illustrious actions or elegant enjoyments. The greater part of our time passes in compliance with necessities, in the performance of daily duties, in the removal of small inconveniences, in the procurement of petty pleasures; and we are well or ill at ease, as the main stream of life glides on smoothly, or is ruffled by small obstacles and frequent interruption.

Samuel Johnson

Life, Ease, Action

Samuel Johnson, Hester Lynch Piozzi, James Boswell (1804). “The beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: consisting of maxims and observations, moral, critical, and miscellaneous: to which are now added biographical anecdotes of the doctor, selected from the works of Mrs. Piozzi;--his Life, recently published by Mr. Boswell, and other authentic testimonies; also his will, and the sermon he wrote for the late Doctor Dodd”

Whoever envies another confesses his superiority.

Samuel Johnson

Jealousy, Envy, Your Jealous

Samuel Johnson (1784). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes..”, p.128

He that would travel for the entertainment of others, should remember that the great object of remark is human life. Every Nation has something peculiar in its Manufactures, its Works of Genius, its Medicines, its Agriculture, its Customs, and its Policy. He only is a useful Traveller, who brings home something by which his country may be benefited; who procures some supply of Want, or some mitigation of Evil, which may enable his readers to compare their condition with that of others, to improve it whenever it is worse, and whenever it is better to enjoy it.

Samuel Johnson

Country, Home, Medicine

"The Idler".

All the arguments which are brought to represent poverty as no evil show it evidently to be a great evil.

Samuel Johnson

Evil, Poverty, Argument

In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 1, p. 441 (20July 1763)

He that is much flattered soon learns to flatter himself.

Samuel Johnson

Flattery, Flattered

Samuel Johnson, Hester Lynch Piozzi, James Boswell (1787). “The Beauties of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous, to which are Now Added, Biographical Anecdotes of the Doctor, Selected from the Late Productions of Mrs. Piozzi, Mr. Boswell, ...”, p.101

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition.

Samuel Johnson

Gratitude, Home, Ambition

Samuel Johnson (1824). “The works of Samuel Johnson”, p.431

Don't tell me of deception; a lie is a lie, whether it be a lie to the eye or a lie to the ear.

Samuel Johnson

Lying, Eye, Deception

Samuel Johnson (1836). “Johnsoniana; or supplement to Boswell; being Anecdotes and sayings of Dr. Johnson, etc”, p.222

The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope.

Samuel Johnson

Happiness, Uplifting, Hope

Samuel Johnson (1820). “The Rambler”, p.8

Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms.

Samuel Johnson

Humor, Focus, Excellence

Samuel Johnson (1810). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An essay on his life and genius”, p.130

The task of an author is, either to teach what is not known, or to recommend known truths by his manner of adorning them; either to let new light in upon the mind, and open new scenes to the prospect, or to vary the dress and situation of common objects, so as to give them fresh grace and more powerful attractions, to spread such flowers over the regions through which the intellect has already made its progress, as may tempt it to return, and take a second view of things hastily passed over, or negligently regarded.

Samuel Johnson

Powerful, Flower, Writing

Samuel Johnson (1787). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: Together with His Life, and Notes on His Lives of the Poets, by Sir John Hawkins, Knt. In Eleven Volumes ...”, p.14

That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good.

Samuel Johnson

Men, World, Found

Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”, p.7

To hear complaints is wearisome alike to the wretched and the happy.

Samuel Johnson

Happiness, Complaints, Wretched

Samuel Johnson, Abraham Raimbach, Robert Smirke (1819). “Rasselas”, p.133

Nothing detains the reader's attention more powerfully than deep involutions of distress, or sudden vicissitudes of fortune; and these might be abundantly afforded by memoirs of the sons of literature. They are entangled by contracts which they know not how to fulfill, and obliged to write on subjects which they do not understand. Every publication is a new period of time, from which some increase or declension of fame is to be reckoned. The gradations of a hero's life are from battle to battle, and of an author's from book to book.

Samuel Johnson

Book, Hero, Writing

Samuel Johnson (1810). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An essay on his life and genius”, p.406