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Samuel Johnson Quotes - Page 9

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

Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

Dictionaries are like watches, the worst is better than none and the best cannot be expected to go quite true.

Art, Philosophy, History

Letter to Francesco Sastres, 21 Aug. 1784

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

Inspirational, Life, Motivational

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 1755)

Whatever is formed for long duration arrives slowly to its maturity.

Maturity, Long, Grandparent

Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.72

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

Pride, Men, Vices

Samuel Johnson (1804). “Miscellaneous and fugitive pieces [chiefly of Johnson, ed. by T. Davies]. By S. Johnson”, p.359

No man will be found in whose mind airy notions do not sometimes tyrannize, and force him to hope or fear beyond the limits of sober probability.

Men, Emotional, Political

Samuel Johnson (1846). “The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia: A Tale”, p.144

Combinations of wickedness would overwhelm the world, by the advantage which licentious principles afford, did not those who have long practised perfidy grow faithless to each other.

Long, Evil, Principles

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”, p.315

Our minds, like our bodies, are in continual flux; something is hourly lost, and something acquired.... Do not suffer life to stagnate; it will grow muddy for want of motion: commit yourself again to the current of the world.

Mind, Suffering, World

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1820). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: A New Edition in Twelve Volumes, to which is Prefixed, an Essay on His Life and Genius, by Arthur Murphy, Esq. Containing Adventurer and Rasselas”, p.397

Remember that nothing will supply the want of prudence, and that negligence and irregularity long continued will make knowledge useless, wit ridiculous, and genius contemptible.

Long, Genius, Useless

Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.

Gratitude, Cheer, People

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1786). “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.264

It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination.

Marriage, Wedding, People

Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1825). “The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson: Comprising Opinions and Anecdotes of Life and Literature, Men, Manners, and Morals”, p.163

Whoever commits a fraud is guilty not only of the particular injury to him who he deceives, but of the diminution of that confidence which constitutes not only the ease but the existence of society.

Deceit, Ease, Guilty

Samuel Johnson (1784). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes..”, p.147

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

Inspirational, Teaching, Learning

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 18 Apr. 1775)

No one is much pleased with a companion who does not increase, in some respect, their fondness for themselves.

Respect, Doe, Increase

He that condemns himself to compose on a stated day will often bring to his task attention dissipated, a memory embarrassed, an imagination overwhelmed, a mind distracted with anxieties, a body languishing with disease: he will labour on a barren topic till it is too late to change it; or, in the ardour of invention, diffuse his thoughts into wild exuberance, which the pressing hour of publication cannot suffer judgment to examine or reduce.

Memories, Writing, Imagination

Samuel Johnson (1823). “The Works of Samuel Johnson: An essay on the life and genius of Dr. Johnson [by A. Murphy] Poems.- v. 2-4. The rambler.- v. 5. The idler. History of Rasselas, prince of Abissinia.- v. 6-8. The lives of the English poets.- v. 9. Lives of eminent persons. Letters, selected from the collection of Mrs. Piozzi and others. Prayers and meditations.- v. 10. Philological tracts, &c.- v. 11. Miscellaneous tracts, &c. Dedications. Reviews and criticisms. Tales of imagination. The adventurers.-”, p.59

The only end of writing is to enable readers better to enjoy life or better to endure it.

Reading, Writing, Enjoy Life

'A Free Enquiry' (1757, ed. D. Greene, 1984) reviewing Soame Jenyns

It may be observed in general that the future is purchased by the present. It is not possible to secure distant or permanent happiness but by the forbearance of some immediate gratification.

Future, May, Forbearance

Samuel Johnson (1784). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes..”, p.99

To fix the thoughts by writing, and subject them to frequent examinations and reviews, is the best method of enabling the mind to detect its own sophisms, and keep it on guard against the fallacies which it practices on others

Writing, Practice, Mind

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.”, p.537

Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.

Agriculture, Giving, Riches

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

Happiness, Drinking, Wine

"The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson: Comprising Opinions and Anecdotes of Life and Literature, Men, Manners, and Morals".

No one ever became great by imitation.

Greatness, Imitation

It is certain that success naturally confirms in us a favourable opinion of our own abilities. Scarce any man is willing to allot to accident, friendship, and a thousand causes, which concur in every event without human contrivance or interposition, the part which they may justly claim in his advancement. We rate ourselves by our fortune rather than our virtues, and exorbitant claims are quickly produced by imaginary merit.

Men, Events, May

Samuel Johnson (1784). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes..”, p.68

It is commonly a weak man who marries for love.

Men, Weak Man, Weakness

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). “The life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., comprehending an account of his studies, and numerous works, in chronological order: a series of his epistolary correspondence and conversations with many eminent persons; and various original pieces of his composition, never before published; the whole exhibiting a view of literature and literary men in Great Britain, for near half a century during which he flourished”, p.3

Nature never gives everything at once.

Giving

Samuel Johnson (1811). “A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland ... First American edition”, p.36

He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.

Sunshine, Shade, Brightness

Samuel Johnson (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.”, p.240

No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction.

Money, Home, House

Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1825). “The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson: Comprising Opinions and Anecdotes of Life and Literature, Men, Manners, and Morals”, p.41

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