Quotes by Samuel Johnson
There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified and new prejudices to be opposed.
The mind is refrigerated by interruption; the thoughts are diverted from the principal subject; the reader is weary, he suspects not why; and at last throws away the book, which he has too diligently studied.
Surely life, if it be not long, is tedious, since we are forced to call in the assistance of so many trifles to rid us of our time, of that time which never can return.
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.
Words too familiar, or too remote, defeat the purpose of a poet
Distance has the same effect on the mind as on the eye.
Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so is most beneficial to us.
Attention and respect give pleasure, however late, or however useless. But they are not useless, when they are late, it is reasonable to rejoice, as the day declines, to find that it has been spent with the approbation of mankind.
Power is not sufficient evidence of truth.
Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then.
That life protracted is protracted woe.
Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next...
What we hope ever to do with ease we may learn first to do with diligence.
Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.
All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance; it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united with canals.
Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
Our tastes greatly alter. The lad does not care for the child's rattle, and the old man does not care for the young man's whore.
Always set high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you.
When I censured a gentleman of my acquaintance for marrying a second time, as it shewed a disregard of his first wife, he said, "Not at all, S...
If you are idle, be not solitary if you are solitary be not idle.
The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little.
Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble.
A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization
There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern... No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
