Samuel Johnson Quotes about Funny

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

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

Samuel Johnson

Funny, Life, Being Yourself

1750-2 In The Rambler.

No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned... a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.

Samuel Johnson

Funny, Army, Men

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 16 Mar. 1759)

I would be loath to speak ill of any person who I do not know deserves it, but I am afraid he is an attorney.

Samuel Johnson

Funny, Law, Would Be

Samuel Johnson (1836). “Johnsoniana: Or, Supplement to Boswell: Being Anecdotes and Sayings of Dr. Johnson”, p.88

Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.

Samuel Johnson

Funny, Humor, Rivers

Attributed, in Hawker 'Instructions to Young Sportsmen' (1859) p. 197, though not found in Johnson's works. 'Notes and Queries' 11 December 1915

I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am.

Samuel Johnson

Funny, Hate, Integrity

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (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.6

That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one.

Samuel Johnson

Funny, Mistake, Humorous

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 1770)

If, sir, men were all virtuous, I should with great alacrity teach them all to fly. But what would be the security of the good if the bad could at pleasure invade them from the sky? Against an army sailing through the clouds neither wall, nor mountains, nor seas could afford any security.

Samuel Johnson

Inspirational, Funny, Wall

Samuel Johnson (2009). “Samuel Johnson: Selected Writings”, p.270, Harvard University Press