Authors:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Samuel Johnson Quotes about Happiness

All Samuel Johnson 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 quotes 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

Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.

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

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".

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

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks.

Happiness, Happy, Laughter

"The Beauties of Samuel Johnson: Consisting of Maxims and Observations, Moral, Critical, and Miscellaneous".

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.

Happiness, Beer, Men

In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 2, p. 452 (21 March 1776)

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

Happiness, Uplifting, Hope

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

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

Happiness, Complaints, Wretched

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

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".

As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.

Happiness, Men, Good Man

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for Sept. 1783)

Abstinence is as easy to me as temperance would be difficult.

Happiness, Food, Cooking

In William Roberts (ed.) 'Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs Hannah More' (1834) vol. 1, p. 251

Subordination tends greatly to human happiness. Were we all upon an equality, we should have no other enjoyment than mere animal pleasure.

Happiness, Animal, Equality

Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1818). “The table talk of Samuel Johnson”, p.120

We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.

Happiness, Believe, Long

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.467

To strive with difficulties, and to conquer them, is the highest human felicity.

Happiness, Inner Peace, Trying

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.343

Reproof should not exhaust its power upon petty failings.

Happiness, Advice, Failing

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.245

We seldom learn the true want of what we have till it is discovered that we can have no more.

Happiness, Want

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With Murphy's Essay”, p.678

Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect. Every advance into knowledge opens new prospects, and produces new incitements to farther progress.

Happiness, Curiosity, Progress

Samuel Johnson, William Page (1860). “Life and Writings”, p.37

There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.

Happiness, Art, Men

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1799). “Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Johnson's Diary of a Journey Into North Wales”, p.502

To have the management of the mind is a great art, and it may be attained in a considerable degree by experience and habitual exercise... Let him take a course of chemistry, or a course of rope-dance, or a course of any thing to which he is inclined at the time. Let him contrive to have as many retreats for his mind as he can, as many things to which it can fly from itself.

Happiness, Art, Exercise

"The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D". Book by James Boswell, 1791.

That all who are happy are equally happy is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. A small drinking glass and a large one may be equally full, but the large one holds more than the small.

Happiness, Drinking, Insperational

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1859). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides”, p.227

I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

Happiness, Government, Giving

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 31 Mar. 1772)

To have the management of the mind is a great art, and it may be attained in a considerable degree by experience and habitual exercise.

Happiness, Art, Exercise

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.416

Good sense alone is a sedate and quiescent quality, which manages its possessions well, but does not increase them; it collects few materials for its own operations, and preserves safety, but never gains supremacy.

Happiness, Success, Safety

Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt (1854). “Johnson's Lives of the British poets completed by W. Hazlitt”, p.220

None are happy but by anticipation of change.

Happiness, Anticipation

Nothing is more idle than to inquire after happiness, which nature has kindly placed within our reach.

Happiness, Idle

Samuel Johnson (2012). “Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia”, p.54, Simon and Schuster

So scanty is our present allowance of happiness that in many situations life could scarcely be supported if hope were not allowed to relieve the present hour by pleasures borrowed from the future.

Happiness, Hours, Pleasure

Samuel Johnson (1810). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An essay on his life and genius”, p.175

1
2
3
Next

You May Also Like: