It is very natural for young men to be vehement, acrimonious and severe. For as they seldom comprehend at once all the consequences of a position, or perceive the difficulties by which cooler and more experienced reasoners are restrained from confidence, they form their conclusions with great precipitance. Seeing nothing that can darken or embarrass the question, they expect to find their own opinion universally prevalent, and are inclined to impute uncertainty and hesitation to want of honesty, rather than of knowledge.
Samuel Johnson
Related I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES I thank God for schools that are serious about the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are vital to perpetu... JAMES C. DOBSON To be, or not to be, that is the question. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE I find it odd- the greed of mankind. People only like you for as long as they perceive they can get ... C. JOYBELL C. Yes! Very funny this terrible thing is. A man that is born falls into a dream like a man who falls i... JOSEPH CONRAD To be or not to be. That's not really a question. JEAN-LUC GODARD There are people everywhere who form a Forth World, or a diaspora of their own. They are the lordly ... JAN MORRIS The wish to acquire more is admittedly a very natural and common thing; and when men succeed in this... NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI Thus, a people may prefer a free government, but if, from indolence, or carelessness, or cowardice, ... JOHN STUART MILL Capacity for the nobler feelings is in most natures a very tender plant, easily killed, not only by ... JOHN STUART MILL Mediocre people have an answer for everything and are astonished at nothing. They always want to hav... EUGENE DELACROIX The only thing secretive about secret societies is the fear that the arrogant inside these groups ha... ROBIN SACREDFIRE The only thing secretive about secret societies is the fear that the arrogant inside these groups ha... ROBIN SACREDFIRE Those who are truly alive are kindly and unsuspecting in their human relationships and consequently ... WILHELM REICH Some of these stories, it is understood, are not to be passed on to my father, because they would up... MARGARET ATWOOD Clay in the hands of a good potter suffers so many good turns, but in the end, we see its real and t... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH To be or not to be is not a question of compromise. Either you be or you don't be. GOLDA MEIR To be or not to be isn't the question. The question is how to prolong being. TOM ROBBINS I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom a... LEO TOLSTOY The very few among us who have earned the title psychopath, are the ones who deny or destroy their i... SARA NILES I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of thegreatest complexity, can seldom ac... LEO NIKOLAEVICH TOLSTOY Let children learn about different faiths, let them notice their incompatibility, and let them draw ... RICHARD DAWKINS It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; an... CHARLOTTE BRONTë And so, when a person meets the half that is his very own, whatever his orientation, whether it's to... PLATO If God give you strength and courage, don't use it to intimidate people or overpower them, rather us... ANTHONY LICCIONE Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise fo... CHARLOTTE BRONTE Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise fo... CHARLOTTE BRONTë Today, most young women are exposed to technology at a very young age, with mobile phones, tablets, ... SUSAN WOJCICKI Be kind. We never know what people are going through. Give grace and mercy because one day your circ... GERMANY KENT There are many who consider as an injury to themselves any conduct which they have a distaste for, a... JOHN STUART MILL I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom a... LEO TOLSTOY The manner Women are bred in, (...) they are admitted to no share of the exercises which wou'd quali... LADY SOPHIA FERMOR May I never neither turn left nor turn right in my journey of life, but may I go straight to Christ ... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH In the journey of life, certain paths may seem to be leading nowhere because of a mountain or hill o... ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH 37. It is better to be single and unhappy than unhappily married. JAMES C. DOBSON How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine." The Q... LEWIS CARROLL There can be no equality or opportunity if men and women and children be not shielded in their lives... WOODROW WILSON There can be no equality or opportunity if men and women and children be not shielded in their lives... WOODROW WILSON Kids enjoy laughing and are seldom bored when they find something funny. They also ask questions, of... BRIAN P. CLEARY Optimists believe that their own actions result in positive things happening, that they are responsi... DR ANIL KUMAR SINHA The method of exposition which philosophers have adopted leads many to suppose that they are simply ... MORRIS RAPHAEL COHEN Generally students are the best vehicles for passing on ideas, for their thoughts are plastic and ca... THEODORE WHITE Generally students are the best vehicles for passing on ideas, for their thoughts are plastic and ca... THEODORE H. WHITE The ignorant become stupid - when they no longer perceive or willfully ignore their own lack of know... MIKE E. KNEZEVICH, JR. Irregularity and want of method are only supportable in men of great learning or genius, who are oft... JOSEPH ADDISON The lobbyists and the entities they represent tend to be among the most experienced experts availabl... ADAM SHARP You see, people in the depressive position are often stigmatised as ‘failures' or ‘losers'. Of c... NEEL BURTON Those who are esteemed umpires of taste, are often persons who have acquired some knowledge of admir... RALPH WALDO EMERSON Preparatory men. I welcome all signs that a more manly, a warlike, age is about to begin, an age whi... FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Food Allergies Are Not Due to Food, Rather Are Due to the Constant Contamination of That Food That Y... THEHEALTHFOODGURU They who lack talent expect things to happen without effort. They ascribe failure to a lack of inspi... ERIC HOFFER This is the same establishment that all those who want, or rather aspire to, to be literary figures ... ABIGAIL GEORGE He's for you and wants to help you be the person He created you to be. CRAIG GROESCHEL Kindness is universal. Sometimes being kind allows others to see the goodness in humanity through yo... GERMANY KENT The Biggest Threat to our Democracy, Freedoms and Future is Leadership that fosters and Appeases the... MICHAEL HARRIS Nothing can be compared to the great beauty and capabilities of a soul; however keen our intellects ... SAINT TERESA OF AVILA 2. Overcommitment and time pressure are the greatest destroyers of marriages. It takes time to devel... JAMES C. DOBSON Shaq pe hai yaqeen unko, Yaqeen pe hai shaq Mujhy..... .....Kis ka jhoot jhoot hai, K... VISHAL BHARADWAJ - HAIDER FILM Most humans, in varying degrees, are already dead. In one way or another they have lost their dreams... OG MANDINO There are some people about whom it is difficult to say anything which would describe them immediate... FYODOR DOSTOYEVSKY Innovators and creators are persons who can to a higher degree than average accept the condition of ... NATHANIEL BRANDEN Certainly all of our lives are unfinished, ... how they must learn to forgive what they perceive as ... MARK SPRAGG Do I have the courage of being a ruthless man to myself with the complete knowledge on my manner or ... FEREIDOON YAZDI However evil men may be they dare not be openly hostile to virtue, and so when they want to attack i... FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULD For my own part, I tend to find the doctrinal books often more helpful in devotion than the devotion... C.S. LEWIS The demand for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual vice. .... BERTRAND RUSSELL Neither the entrepreneurs nor the farmers nor the capitalists determine what has to be produced. The... LUDWIG VON MISES Since in early youth it cannot be known what ends are likely to occur to us in the course of life, p... IMMANUEL KANT Or maybe they just accept that it's wrong in God's eyes, although not in their own, and they'll worr... CRAIG GROESCHEL Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills o... SIR HUGH WALPOLE Men are often capable of greater things than they perform. They are sent into the world with bills o... HORACE WALPOLE Men are often capable of greater things than they perform - They are sent into the world with bills ... HORACE WALPOLE The oppressors do not perceive their monopoly on having more as a privilege which dehumanizes... PAULO FREIRE For myself, I find I become less cynical rather than more--remembering my own sins and follies; and ... J.R.R. TOLKIEN A general dissolution
of the principles and manners
will more surely overthrow the liberties of Amer... SAMUEL ADAMS Sometimes, too, when their spiritual masters, such as confessors and superiors, do not approve of th... SAN JUAN DE LA CRUZ When ladies are between the ages of 19 and 24 years, lot of right men would come their way but just ... ALALE ANTHONY is a broken man an outlaw?" "More or less." Brienne answered. Septon Meribald ... GEORGE R.R. MARTIN For, occupied incessantly with the consideration of the limits prescribed to their power by nature, ... RENé DESCARTES People constantly speak of "the government" doing this or that, as they might speak of God doing it.... H.L. MENCKEN The path of compassion does not obligate you to love people regardless of how they act or who they a... SANAYA ROMAN To date or not to date that is the question. It's almost as important as Shakespeare's to be... AL GOLDSTEIN It is true that many young people who wrongly, that is, simply with abandon and unsolitarily, feel t... RAINER MARIA RILKE The girls are really excited and they want to go all the way. Their confidence is built up because o... AMY LITTERAL Men love to trust God (as they profess) for what they have in their hands, in possession, or what li... JOHN OWEN It will generally be found that men who are constantly lamenting their ill luck are only reaping the... SAMUEL SMILES Soon as the potion works, their human count'nance,
Th' express resemblance of the gods, is chang'd... JOHN MILTON Self-deception is so far from impossible that it is one of the most ordinary phenomena with which we... WILLIAM GODWIN Rather than being medicalized or romanticized, mental disorders, or mental dis-eases, should be unde... NEEL BURTON The scientific method gives us
information by testing and repeating observable things so that we
can... LEWIS N. ROE All great people had experienced dark times and moments of doubt but they find inner strength to ove... LAILAH GIFTY AKITA The circumstance which gives authors an advantage above all these great masters, is this, that they ... JOSEPH ADDISON The circumstance which gives authors an advantage above all these
great masters, is this, that they... JOSEPH ADDISON [M]any believe that by being honest and open they are winning people’s hearts and showing their go... ROBERT GREENE Feast of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr, 1170 A Christian and an unbelieving poe... C. S. LEWIS Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they own their bodies -- thos... C.S. LEWIS Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they ''own'' their bodies -- ... C.S. LEWIS We sang the song as children of the mystery that we hoped to one day comprehend and now, at last, we... MISHI MCCOY They Young People have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its ne... ARISTOTLE They [Young People] have exalted notions, because they have not been humbled by life or learned its ... ARISTOTLE
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 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 No one ever became great by imitation. SAMUEL JOHNSON