Samuel Johnson
English writer and lexicographer, 1709-1784
99 quotes.
Quotes by Samuel Johnson
- Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.
- Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanicks laughs at strength.
- Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.
- Let us endeavour to see things as they are, and then inquire whether we ought to complain.
- Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties.
- Life, however short, is made shorter by waste of time; and its progress towards happiness, though naturally slow, is made still slower by unnecessary labour.
- Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.
- Life, to be worthy of a rational being, must be always in progression: we must always purpose to do more or better than in time past.
- Live on what you have; live if you can on less; do not borrow either for vanity or pleasure--the vanity will end in shame, and the pleasure in regret.
- Live within your income. Always have something saved at the end of the year. Let your imports be more than your exports, and you'll never go far wrong.
- Make the most and the best of your lot, and compare yourself not with the few that are above you, but with the multitudes which are below you.
- Men are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
- Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.
- Nay, sure, Sir, it is better to LIVE rich than to DIE rich.
- Never trust your tongue when your heart is bitter.
- No man ever yet became great by imitation.
- No man is good but as he wishes the good of others.
- No money is better spent than what is laid out for domestic satisfaction.
- Nobody will persist long in helping those who will not help themselves.
- Nothing can be truly great which is not right.
- Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must be first overcome.
- Nothing will be mended by complaints.
- Our minds cannot be empty; and evil will break in upon them if they are not pre-occupied by good.
- People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.
- Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.
- Presumption will be easily corrected; but timidity is a disease of the mind more obstinate and fatal.
- Reflect that life, like every other blessing, derives its value from its use alone.
- Resolution will sometimes relax, and diligence will sometimes be interrupted; but let no accidental surprise or deviation, whether short or long, dispose you to despondency.
- Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; it certainly destroys liberty, and it makes some virtues impracticable and others extremely difficult.
- Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.
- Sir, you know courage is reckoned the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.
- Small debts are like small shot; they are rattling on every side, and can scarcely be escaped without a wound. Great debts are like cannon; of loud noise, but little danger.
- Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away. It is the putrefaction of stagnant life, and is remedied by exercise and motion.
- Sorrow is the mere rust of the soul. Activity will cleanse and brighten it.
- Success produces confidence, confidence relaxes industry, and negligence ruins that reputation which accuracy had raised.
- The chains of habit are generally too small to be felt till they are too strong to be broken.
- The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.
- The diminutive chains of habit are seldom heavy enough to be felt, till they are too strong to be broken.
- The first step to greatness is to be honest.
- The future is purchased by the present.