Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach, and even this negative recompense has been yet granted to very few.
Samuel Johnson
Related The market is still waiting for HSBC results, which will have a big impact on the direction of the m... ANDREW TO Property shares had a technical rebound, but interest rate concerns will still affect properties unt... ANDREW TO Bank of China's results were quite good; double-digit growth can be taken as good results for a bank... ANDREW TO The index tried to challenge 18,000 but failed, so that triggered profit taking. Tokyo's slide also ... ANDREW TO Trading seems to be focusing on selective counters because investors are cautious amid interest rate... ANDREW TO We're seeing a minor technical rebound after Wall Street rebounded from two days of losses. The key ... ANDREW TO Some investors have returned to pick up the stock at bargain prices. ANDREW TO I think the take-up for the placement is not too good and other property developers may be discourag... ANDREW TO We are afraid that our freedoms and liberties will be infringed in the future. ANDREW TO I think there was some minor selling pressure on telecom stocks as the market continued to see a wea... ANDREW TO Negativity is a great big dark cloud full of thunder and lightning ,it will rain for ever if you let... GARY F EVANS... I will love myself despite the ease with which I lean toward the opposite. SHANE L. KOYCZAN None of this has been granted for us yet to use. ANN SIMS Negativity is like a wash of black rain after a nuclear explosion .To avert this from happening you ... GARY F EVANS... So this is going to be drill!? DEYTH BANGER . . . men seldom risk their lives where an escape is without hope of recompense. FANNY BURNEY A Ritual to Read to Each Other If you don’t know the kind of person I am and... WILLIAM STAFFORD Friendship is a double-edged sword one side it can be great and true but the other side it spells be... GARY F EVANS... We grew up learning to cheer on the underdog because we see ourselves in them. SHANE L. KOYCZAN Sometimes becoming drug free has less to do with addiction and more to do with sanity. SHANE L. KOYCZAN The great Cham of literature. (Samuel Johnson) TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT Yes! Very funny this terrible thing is. A man that is born falls into a dream like a man who falls i... JOSEPH CONRAD This individual has received a number of accolades over the years, yet he doesn't seek attention and... STEVE AKERS Congratulations, to the people which made gotham series, still need some more and extra work! DEYTH BANGER To have the cognitive abilities to do research and development is vital to a forever expanding world... GARY F EVANS... The first and foremost human right or fundamental right is the right to exist. APURVA GAGLANI If we ever put research into what the subconscious is we could probably come to the conclusion that ... GARY F EVANS... i know im not the girl you wanted. not the one you want to hear from. but what you see is what you g... SIMI GREWAL The only way to escape the personal corruption of praise is to go on working. ALBERT EINSTEIN My life is not mine - it is for my people – the humans – the humans of the thinking society. ABHIJIT NASKAR Most poor people do not really aspire to end poverty; they merely aspire to escape it. MOKOKOMA MOKHONOANA Other devices must be recalibrated every few hours or days. This is time-consuming and annoying. Our... AVNER GAL Hope for the best, ‘never’ prepare for the rest, and treat yourself as present’s guest. ANUROOP TYAGI Reject the religious labels and accept the only label that matters “Born Again JOHN M SHEEHAN I have been both praised and criticized. The criticism stung, but the praise sometimes bothered me e... BILLY JOEL Judge not lest ye be judged. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW The only abnormality is the incapacity to love. ANAIS NIN May, I love you with everything I am. For so long, I just wanted to be like you. But I had to figure... AVA DELLAIRA True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong. LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA True praise comes often even to the lowly; false praise only to the strong. SENECA In six years, this was not the first time they had found themselves in such a compromising posi... JACQUELINE FRANCIS - WANTING TO REMEMBER, TRYING TO FORGET They courted the face on the screen, the face of translucence, the face of wax on which men found it... ANAïS NIN There is no one to tell this to and yet it seems very important to get this right. The reality and w... PETER HELLER Man is never always happy, and very often only a brief period of happiness is granted him in this wo... FREDERIC CHOPIN Negative sentiment has basically led to across-the-board declines, very few stocks have escaped unsc... STEPHEN WRIGHT The sad heart needs work to do. JOAN BAUER Most powerful of all powers in its holy insinuation is _being_. _To be_ is more powerful than even _... GEORGE MACDONALD The saying sell all your belongings & give to the poor simply means "Redirect your mind to the verit... DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) Life can only be understood looking backward. It must be lived forward. ERIC ROTH You're afraid of getting hurt like I'm afraid to die. It doesn't mean I'm not going to live every da... VI KEELAND Wesley Rush doesn't chase girls, but I'm chasing you. KODY KEPLINGER I turn and kick with the first one and feel myself being lifted and thrown towards the beach. It's l... MARK SMITH What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough ... DOUGLAS ADAMS One of the things Ford Prefect had always found hardest to understand about humans was their habit o... DOUGLAS ADAMS No tools have yet been met with in any of the gravels occurring at the higher levels of the valley o... CHARLES LYELL I can't remember how to cry. SHERMAN ALEXIE To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to thr... EDWARD M. HALLOWELL Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 ... SAMUEL JOHNSON If "how to do it" were the answer, it'd be done. It's how you do the "hows" that's most important. JEFF OLSON There is no one right way. Just figure out what works for you! LORII MYERS Compromise now, because you'll have to later, anyway, only then you'll have gone through things you'... AYN RAND To love means to be actively concerned for the life and the growth of another. IRVIN D. YALOM May be is very well, but Must is the master. It is my duty to show justice without recompense. SENECA (SENECA THE ELDER) May be is very well, but Must is the master. It is my duty to show justice without recompense. LUCIUS ANNAEUS SENECA Concerning God, freewill and destiny: Of all that earth has been or yet may be, all that vain men im... PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY To be honest, I've only been to one concert, and it was Aerosmith. Aerosmith and Slash. SHAWN MENDES Samuel Johnson said Alexander Pope's translation of the Iliad, "tuned the English tongue. HAROLD BLOOM If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway PRAVINEE HURBUNGS The power of a glance has been so much abused in love stories, that it has come to be disbelieved in... VICTOR HUGO Everything has been said yet few have taken advantage of it. Since all our knowledge is essentially ... RAOUL VANEIGEM To mortify and even to injure an opponent, reproach him with the very defect or vice ... you feel ..... IVAN TURGENEV To mortify and even to injure an opponent, reproach him with the very defect or vice you feel in you... IVAN TURGENEV It has a very powerful warhead designed to hit big submarines. No warship can escape from this missi... GEN. ALI FADAVI Concerning God, free will and destiny: Of all that earth has been or yet may be, all that vain men i... WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE To be, or not to be, that is the question. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Remember that yours is not the only heart that may be wishing for love. CAMERON DOKEY Your "Not To Do" list is also important. MANI S. SIVASUBRAMANIAN The earth is an arena of champions. We are all champions. We all did overcome millions of potential ... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is nev... A WALK TO REMEMBER You're the best gay friend I've ever had! AMERICA TALKING TO FRANCE Always remember, your focus determines your reality. QUI-GON TO ANAKIN Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. ATTRIBUTED TO MAYA AANGELOU You can call a jackass a thoroughbred but that doesn't make it so. ATTRIBUTED TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN To every Armageddonist, every earth lover must keep saying with all the sincerity and affection we c... DAVID JAMES DUNCAN Coming near him like a ballet dancer she took a leap towards him, and he, frightened by her vehemenc... ANAïS NIN Your ears love to hear, so speak to it SOTONYE ANGA This agency has arisen the last few years to meet the need of low income kids who need a place to go... DON CAPSHAW I know of only one duty, and that is to love. ALBERT CAMUS Don't you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you're not taking advantage of it?... ERNEST HEMINGWAY I am no God. I am no Messiah. I am no divine incarnation. I am but a human in the service of humans. ABHIJIT NASKAR Even if 99 percent of international air were stopped, every country would in all probability still b... BEN COOPER The internet is killing the art of writing. The big "publish" button begs you to publish even before... BANGAMBIKI HABYARIMANA It has been a very tragic case from the beginning to the end. And had the case not been reversed, Mr... GREELEY WELLS Invades the sacred hour of silent rest and leaves, unseen, a dagger in your breast.” ~ Samuel John... J.J. MCAVOY Advocacy groups in the USA, as in other countries, may not be able to silence this hateful, cowardly... CHRISTINA ENGELA You cannot control what other people do, only how you react to it. JEFFREY FRY How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine." The Q... LEWIS CARROLL - Mrzim sve što je odricanje! - Ni ja, Ivane, ne pristajem da se odričem. Ja hoću ceo, sav, ... DOBRICA ĆOSIć In the beginning the Universe was created. This had made many people very angry and has been wi... DOUGLAS ADAMS There was a terribly ghastly silence. There was a terribly ghastly noise. There was a terr... DOUGLAS ADAMS
More Samuel Johnson
He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own... SAMUEL JOHNSON No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship i... SAMUEL JOHNSON Love is only one of many passions. SAMUEL JOHNSON My dear friend, clear your mind of cant. SAMUEL JOHNSON The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down. SAMUEL JOHNSON The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good. SAMUEL JOHNSON No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of spring. SAMUEL JOHNSON Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings. SAMUEL JOHNSON Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is bestowed. SAMUEL JOHNSON Depend upon it, Sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wo... SAMUEL JOHNSON It is very natural for young men to be vehement, acrimonious and severe. For as they seldom comprehe... SAMUEL JOHNSON Among the calamities of war, may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the fals... SAMUEL JOHNSON He who praises every body, praises nobody. SAMUEL JOHNSON The mind is never satisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from... SAMUEL JOHNSON A gentleman who had been very unhappy in marriage, married immediately after his wife died: Johnson ... SAMUEL JOHNSON He that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade. SAMUEL JOHNSON Gloomy calm of idle vacancy. SAMUEL JOHNSON Ignorance, madam, pure ignorance. SAMUEL JOHNSON When any calamity has been suffered the first thing to be remembered is, how much has been escaped. SAMUEL JOHNSON No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. SAMUEL JOHNSON Do not discourage your children from hoarding, if they have a taste to it; whoever lays up his penny... SAMUEL JOHNSON Whatever you have spend less. SAMUEL JOHNSON There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money. SAMUEL JOHNSON What is twice read is commonly better remembered that what is
transcribed. SAMUEL JOHNSON A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he
reads as a task will do him little g... SAMUEL JOHNSON Books have always a secret influence on the understanding; we
cannot at pleasure obliterate ideas: ... SAMUEL JOHNSON The habit of looking on the bright side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a year. SAMUEL JOHNSON Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage i... SAMUEL JOHNSON Wickedness is always easier than virtue, for it takes a short cut to everything. SAMUEL JOHNSON By taking a second wife he pays the highest compliment to the first, by showing that she made him so... SAMUEL JOHNSON It is not from reason and prudence that people marry, but from inclination. SAMUEL JOHNSON Marriage is the best state for man in general, and every man is a worst man in proportion to the lev... SAMUEL JOHNSON A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talk... SAMUEL JOHNSON Books that you carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are most useful after all. SAMUEL JOHNSON A man ought to read just as his inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him littl... SAMUEL JOHNSON He that reads and grows no wiser seldom suspects his own deficiency, but complains of hard words and... SAMUEL JOHNSON The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and art are ransacked for illust... SAMUEL JOHNSON We are not here to sell a parcel of boilers and vats, but the
potentiality of growing rich beyond t... SAMUEL JOHNSON This merriment of parsons is mighty offensive. SAMUEL JOHNSON He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind ... SAMUEL JOHNSON Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in... SAMUEL JOHNSON The endearing elegance of female friendship. SAMUEL JOHNSON To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to thr... SAMUEL JOHNSON The most fatal disease of friendship is gradual decay, or dislike hourly increased by causes too sle... SAMUEL JOHNSON Friendship, 'the wine of life,' said Boswell, should, like a well-stocked cellar, be thus continuall... SAMUEL JOHNSON To be idle and to be poor have always been reproaches, and therefore every man endeavors with his ut... SAMUEL JOHNSON It is wonderful when a calculation is made, how little the mind is actually employed in the discharg... SAMUEL JOHNSON The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it. SAMUEL JOHNSON I will be conquered; I will not capitulate. SAMUEL JOHNSON The law is the last result of human wisdom acting upon human experience for the benefit of the publi... SAMUEL JOHNSON "He was a very good hater." SAMUEL JOHNSON I like a good hater. SAMUEL JOHNSON We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it posse... SAMUEL JOHNSON Read your own compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike... SAMUEL JOHNSON Composition is, for the most part, an effort of slow diligence and steady perseverance, to which the... SAMUEL JOHNSON I know not, Madam, that you have a right, upon moral principles, to make your readers suffer so much... SAMUEL JOHNSON In all pointed sentences, some degree of accuracy must be sacrificed to conciseness. SAMUEL JOHNSON The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over ha... SAMUEL JOHNSON Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious... SAMUEL JOHNSON If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left... SAMUEL JOHNSON Language is the only instrument of science, and words are but the
signs of ideas. SAMUEL JOHNSON Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas. SAMUEL JOHNSON Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purc... SAMUEL JOHNSON My congratulations to you, sir. Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good... SAMUEL JOHNSON Pride is seldom delicate; it will please itself with very mean advantages. SAMUEL JOHNSON Prejudice not being funded on reason cannot be removed by argument. SAMUEL JOHNSON The applause of a single human being is of great consequence. SAMUEL JOHNSON He who praises everybody, praises nobody. SAMUEL JOHNSON The real satisfaction which praise can afford, is when what is repeated aloud agrees with the whispe... SAMUEL JOHNSON A continual feast of commendation is only to be obtained by merit or by wealth: many are therefore o... SAMUEL JOHNSON Hunger is never delicate; they who are seldom gorged to the full with praise may be safely fed with ... SAMUEL JOHNSON I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be sile... SAMUEL JOHNSON Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier, or not having been at sea. SAMUEL JOHNSON No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship i... SAMUEL JOHNSON There are few things that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that w... SAMUEL JOHNSON Men know that women are an over-match for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or most ignora... SAMUEL JOHNSON The true art of memory is the art of attention. SAMUEL JOHNSON What is read twice is usually remembered more than what is once written. SAMUEL JOHNSON The Irish are a fair people: They never speak well of one another. SAMUEL JOHNSON The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England. SAMUEL JOHNSON Much may be made of a Scotchman, if he be caught young. SAMUEL JOHNSON Difficult do you call it, Sir? I wish it were impossible. SAMUEL JOHNSON It is the only sensual pleasure without vice. SAMUEL JOHNSON That fellow seems to me to possess but one idea, and that is a wrong one. SAMUEL JOHNSON There are few minds to which tyranny is not delightful. SAMUEL JOHNSON The majority have no other reason for their opinions than that they are the fashion. SAMUEL JOHNSON Ah! Sir, a boy's being flogged is not so severe as a man's having the hiss of the world against him. SAMUEL JOHNSON It is the great privilege of poverty to be happy and yet unenvied, to be healthy with physic, secure... SAMUEL JOHNSON Nature makes us poor only when we want necessaries, but custom gives the name of poverty to the want... SAMUEL JOHNSON This mournful truth is everywhere confessed, slow rises worth by poverty depressed. SAMUEL JOHNSON Poverty is often concealed in splendor, and often in extravagance. It is the task of many people to ... SAMUEL JOHNSON Resolve not to be poor: whatever you have, spend less. Poverty is a great enemy to human happiness; ... SAMUEL JOHNSON If pleasure was not followed by pain, who would forbear it? SAMUEL JOHNSON No man is a hypocrite in his pleasures. SAMUEL JOHNSON Many things difficult in design prove easy in performance. SAMUEL JOHNSON If he really thinks there is no distinction between vice and virtue, when he leaves our houses let u... SAMUEL JOHNSON The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity. SAMUEL JOHNSON Depend upon it that if a man talks of his misfortunes there is something in them that is not disagre... SAMUEL JOHNSON If I have said something to hurt a man once, I shall not get the better of this by saying many thing... SAMUEL JOHNSON Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are performed not by strength, but per... SAMUEL JOHNSON Great works are performed not by strength, but by perseverance. SAMUEL JOHNSON Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. SAMUEL JOHNSON In all evils which admits a remedy, impatience should be avoided, because it wastes the time and att... SAMUEL JOHNSON Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dr... SAMUEL JOHNSON If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written. SAMUEL JOHNSON Your manuscript is both good and original; but the parts that are good are not original, and the par... SAMUEL JOHNSON I found you essay to be good and original. However, the part that was original was not good and the ... SAMUEL JOHNSON Sir, he was dull in company, dull in his closet, dull everywhere. He was dull in a new way, and that... SAMUEL JOHNSON Sir, a man may be so much of everything, that he is nothing of anything. SAMUEL JOHNSON He who has provoked the shaft of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it. SAMUEL JOHNSON Nobody can write the life of a man but those who have eat and drunk and lived in social intercourse ... SAMUEL JOHNSON Their learning is like bread in a besieged town: every man gets a little, but no man gets a full mea... SAMUEL JOHNSON As peace is the end of war, so to be idle is the ultimate purpose of the busy. SAMUEL JOHNSON Perhaps man is the only being that can properly be called idle. SAMUEL JOHNSON Turn on the prudent ant thy heedful eyes. Observe her labors, sluggard, and be wise. SAMUEL JOHNSON Lawyers know life practically. A bookish man should always have them to converse with. SAMUEL JOHNSON I would be loath to speak ill of any person who I do not know deserves it, but I am afraid he is an ... SAMUEL JOHNSON What provokes your risibility, Sir? Have I said anything that you understand? Then I ask pardon of t... SAMUEL JOHNSON I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations. SAMUEL JOHNSON Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas: I wish, however, t... SAMUEL JOHNSON The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it. SAMUEL JOHNSON More knowledge may be gained of a man's real character by a short conversation with one of his serva... SAMUEL JOHNSON Man is not weak; knowledge is more than equivalent to force. SAMUEL JOHNSON Knowledge always demands increase; it is like fire, which must first be kindled by some external age... SAMUEL JOHNSON Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. SAMUEL JOHNSON All wonder is the effect of novelty on ignorance. SAMUEL JOHNSON Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upo... SAMUEL JOHNSON Sir, they are a race of convicts, and ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hangi... SAMUEL JOHNSON A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated, has not the art of getting drunk. SAMUEL JOHNSON There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a... SAMUEL JOHNSON There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good unti... SAMUEL JOHNSON Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt... SAMUEL JOHNSON The advice that is wanted is commonly not welcome and that which is not wanted, evidently an effront... SAMUEL JOHNSON Disease generally begins that equality which death completes. SAMUEL JOHNSON The trade of advertising is now so near perfection that it is not easy to propose any improvement. B... SAMUEL JOHNSON Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially ... SAMUEL JOHNSON Players, Sir! I look on them as no better than creatures set upon tables and joint stools to make fa... SAMUEL JOHNSON Disappointment, when it involves neither shame nor loss, is as good as success; for it supplies as m... SAMUEL JOHNSON Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes ... SAMUEL JOHNSON When speculation has done its worst, two and two still make four. SAMUEL JOHNSON Sir, I have found you an argument. I am not obliged to find you an understanding. SAMUEL JOHNSON No member of society has the right to teach any doctrine contrary to what society holds to be true. SAMUEL JOHNSON It seems not more reasonable to leave the right of printing unrestrained, because writers may be aft... SAMUEL JOHNSON Censure is willingly indulged, because it always implies some superiority: men please themselves wit... SAMUEL JOHNSON There is nothing so much seduces reason from vigilance as the thought of passing life with an amiabl... SAMUEL JOHNSON Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing. SAMUEL JOHNSON He that would be superior to external influences must first become superior to his own passions. SAMUEL JOHNSON Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it ... SAMUEL JOHNSON Sir, you have but two topics, yourself and me. I am sick of both. SAMUEL JOHNSON Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things ... SAMUEL JOHNSON There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity. SAMUEL JOHNSON It generally happens that assurance keeps an even pace with ability. SAMUEL JOHNSON When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully. SAMUEL JOHNSON Extended empires are like expanded gold, exchanging solid strength for feeble splendor. SAMUEL JOHNSON Those who attain to any excellence commonly spend life in some single pursuit, for excellence is not... SAMUEL JOHNSON Prepare for death, if here at night you roam, and sign your will before you sup from home. SAMUEL JOHNSON The happiest conversation is that of which nothing is distinctly remembered but a general effect of ... SAMUEL JOHNSON I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read. SAMUEL JOHNSON Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity. SAMUEL JOHNSON He who waits to do a great deal of good at once, will never do anything. SAMUEL JOHNSON You are much surer that you are doing good when you pay money to those who work, as the recompense o... SAMUEL JOHNSON A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization. SAMUEL JOHNSON Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself ... SAMUEL JOHNSON I am sorry I have not learnt to play at cards. It is very useful in life: it generates kindness, and... SAMUEL JOHNSON Self-love is often rather arrogant than blind; it does not hide our faults from ourselves, but persu... SAMUEL JOHNSON Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess. SAMUEL JOHNSON Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, an... SAMUEL JOHNSON Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, a... SAMUEL JOHNSON No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money. SAMUEL JOHNSON He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage. SAMUEL JOHNSON To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and la... SAMUEL JOHNSON Truth, Sir, is a cow which will yield such people no more milk, and so they are gone to milk the bul... SAMUEL JOHNSON He that is already corrupt is naturally suspicious, and he that becomes suspicious will quickly beco... SAMUEL JOHNSON Suspicion is most often useless pain. SAMUEL JOHNSON Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment. SAMUEL JOHNSON Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit tho... SAMUEL JOHNSON I have always considered it as treason against the great republic of human nature, to make any man's... SAMUEL JOHNSON We are inclined to believe those whom we don not know because they have never deceived us. SAMUEL JOHNSON Small debts are like small gun shot; they are rattling around us on all sides and one can scarcely e... SAMUEL JOHNSON Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last. SAMUEL JOHNSON Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind. SAMUEL JOHNSON Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom natur... SAMUEL JOHNSON Criticism, as it was first instituted by Aristotle, was meant as a standard of judging well. SAMUEL JOHNSON I would rather be attacked than unnoticed. For the worst thing you can do to an author is to be sile... SAMUEL JOHNSON He that pursues fame with just claims, trusts his happiness to the winds; but he that endeavors afte... SAMUEL JOHNSON To get a name can happen but to few; it is one of the few things that cannot be brought. It is the f... SAMUEL JOHNSON We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again exp... SAMUEL JOHNSON Few enterprises of great labor or hazard would be undertaken if we had not the power of magnifying t... SAMUEL JOHNSON I know not any thing more pleasant, or more instructive, than to compare experience with expectation... SAMUEL JOHNSON It is generally known, that he who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldo... SAMUEL JOHNSON Hope is itself a species of happiness, and, perhaps, the chief happiness which this world affords: b... SAMUEL JOHNSON Claret is the liquor for boys; port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy. SAMUEL JOHNSON No two men can be half an hour together but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other. SAMUEL JOHNSON Nothing is more common than mutual dislike, where mutual approbation is particularly expected. SAMUEL JOHNSON The chains of habit are generally too week to be felt, until they are too strong to be broken. SAMUEL JOHNSON The habit of looking on the best side of every event is worth more than a thousand pounds a years. SAMUEL JOHNSON While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till grief be digested, ... SAMUEL JOHNSON Where grief is fresh, any attempt to divert it only irritates. SAMUEL JOHNSON The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little. SAMUEL JOHNSON He was dull in a new way, and that made many think him great. SAMUEL JOHNSON