Samuel Johnson Quotes

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome.

Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those who we cannot resemble.

A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

Man alone is born crying, lives complaining, and dies disappointed.

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.

Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven't courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

The return of my birthday, if I remember it, fills me with thoughts which it seems to be the general care of humanity to escape.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.

We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting.

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.

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

Revenge is an act of passion; vengeance of justice. Injuries are revenged; crimes are avenged.

If your determination is fixed, I do not counsel you to despair. Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but perseverance.

A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.