No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it. There is a remedy in human nature against tyranny, that will keep us safe under every form of government.
Samuel Johnson
Related In the long run, the government can't bring revival; only the Church can do that. But government... ROBERT JEFFRESS But there will be no justice, there will be no government of the people, by the people, and for the ... JOHN JAY HOOKER The kingdom of God is a theocracy. And as it is the only form of government which will redeem and sa... ORSON PRATT The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, ... THOMAS JEFFERSON Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure... they g... JOHN BENTHAM Nature has placed mankind under the government of two
sovereign masters, pain and pleasure...they go... JOHN BENTHAM In my view of the present aspect of affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is no nece... ABRAHAM LINCOLN It is an essential tenet of our whole representative form of government, the idea that there should ... TODD AKIN The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be lia... JAMES MADISON Nature has placed mankind under the government of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure - they go... JEREMY BENTHAM The Republican form of government is the highest form of government; but because of this it requires... HERBERT SPENCER The Republican form of government is the highest form of government: but because of this it requires... HERBERT SPENCER The Republican form of government is the highest form of government: but because of this it requires... HERBERT SPENCER There will be no central government like before. There will be decentralized government. HUMAM HAMOUDI There will be no central government like before, ... There will be decentralized government. HUMAM HAMOUDI The right of revolution, which tyrants, in mockery, accord to mankind, is no legal right under a gov... LYSANDER SPOONER The government has confirmed that (the power industry) will be expected to bear the entire burden of... DAVID PORTER People sometimes inquire what form of government is most suitable for an artist to live under. To th... OSCAR WILDE It is manifest that the only security against the tyranny of the government lies in forcible resista... LYSANDER SPOONER The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to bear arms is, as a last resort, to protec... THOMAS JEFFERSON Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have,... THOMAS JEFFERSON Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms (of government) those entrusted with power hav... THOMAS JEFFERSON The right to bear arms is because it's the last form of defense against tyranny. ICE T Any power must be an enemy of mankind which enslaves the individual by terror or force, whether it a... ALBERT EINSTEIN If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was a... THOMAS JEFFERSON In Germany, a stable government that you can deal with will form. In the Netherlands, this lasted fo... GERHARD SCHROEDER Unlimited power is the ideal thing when it is in safe hands. The despotism of heaven is the one abso... MARK TWAIN There will always be cheaters. It is human nature. It will never be 100 percent clean, in no sport. DAVID MILLAR This will put us in a strong position to form a government in the city. DOUGLAS GIBSON But it is neither cannon nor bayonet that will do the worst damage to this city. No, this place will... KNUTE NELSON As long as government has the power to regulate business, business will control government by fundin... MARY J. RUWART Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The pe... PATRICK SüSKIND Freedom of men under government is to have a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that s... JOHN LOCKE This will be another weapon for the government to strike against the media, which is already under m... BISHNU NISTHURI Government lasts as long as the under-taxed can defend themselves against the over-taxed. BERNARD BERENSON By ensuring that no one in government has too much power, the Constitution helps protect ordinary Am... JOHN ROBERTS It has no other intention except to keep this government in power. LOVEMORE MADHUKU In a healthy nation there is a kind of dramatic balance between the will of the people and the gover... ALBERT EINSTEIN The problem with Russia is not corruption per se, or even Putin per se. Russian government is not co... ROBERT ZUBRIN Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of governm... TONY BLAIR Power without principle is barren, but principle without power is futile. This is a party of governm... TONY BLAIR Love is a force that connects us to every strand of the universe, an unconditional state that charac... EMILY HILBURN SELL It has been said that terror is the principle of despotic government. Does your government therefore... MAXIMILIEN ROBESPIERRE It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses o... JAMES MADISON Just as we can no longer pretend that ducking under wooden desks will keep us safe from a nuclear bo... MIKE QUIGLEY I have no doubt... (the government) feels it will be less of an affront to China if some other form ... BOB BROWN On our part we have given our assurance there will be no act of violence by the L.T.T.E. against gov... ANTON BALASINGHAM I want the assurance from the government that my community will be safeguarded and they will be safe... AMEER ALI You cannot choose between party government and Parliamentary government. I say you can have no Parli... BENJAMIN DISRAELI Big government conservatism is an oxymoron. In 1965 Lyndon Johnson built public housing. Now it look... DAVID KEENE No matter how noble the objective of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human ... ERIC HOFFER The king must realize that he cannot keep on holding power by following repressive methods. The ques... GOPAL MAN SHRESTHA Reforming is about curbing government power. It is a self-imposed revolution; it will require real s... LI KEQIANG Of course, when I say that human nature is gentleness, it is not 100 percent so. Every human being h... DALAI LAMA All of us -- parents, schools, communities and government -- share responsibility to keep kids safe. BILL CLINTON It is our happiness to live under the government of a PRINCE who is satisfied with ruling according ... JONATHAN MAYHEW If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left... SAMUEL JOHNSON The whole project of cooperating to form a government is under examination. GERNOT ERLER The whole purpose of maintaining your power in government is to make sure that you stay in governmen... DAVID LLOYD Money is power, and in that government which pays all the public officers of the states will all pol... ANDREW JACKSON I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no... SAMUEL JOHNSON I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government other than another. It is of no ... SAMUEL JOHNSON One essential of a free government is that it rest wholly on voluntary support. And one certain proo... LYSANDER SPOONER The New Democrats have called for that under the previous government, and will call for that again u... DAWN BLACK Democracy is not a form of government. It is a tool of government. Case in point, Stalinist USSR was... A.E. SAMAAN When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there... THOMAS JEFFERSON When the government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there i... THOMAS JEFFERSON I believe that there is a Matrix and... to be more accurate I am in the Pornography Matrix. DEYTH BANGER We will have a world government whether you like it or not. The only question is whether that govern... PAUL WARBURG Democratic elections alone do not remedy the crisis of confidence in government. Moreover, there is ... BETH SIMONE NOVECK Before a community can prosper, the people must believe in their leaders. They must know that at the... LINDA LINGLE This idea of weapons of mass exterminations utterly horrible and is something which no one with one ... BERTRAND RUSSELL The land reform is irreversible, there is no shift in government policy when white farmers apply for... JOSEPH MADE No law can give power to private persons; every law transfers power from private persons to governme... ISABEL PATERSON If the government will not change its position, we note that there are a lot more of us and our troo... BRUNO JULLIARD No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, an... EDWARD ABBEY What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, n... JAMES MADISON The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the ... THOMAS JEFFERSON The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the ... THOMAS JEFFERSON I would say the government of Pakistan devotedly hopes that our Afghan brothers will recognize this ... ABDUL SATTAR The inquiry constantly is what will please, not what will benefit the people. In such a government t... ALEXANDER HAMILTON While the government might take measures the public wishes it to take ... there will be some who wil... LUDEKI CHWEYA For every pain under the sun, there is always a remedy or may be none. If there is remedy, hurry and... LILY CHATTERJEE Unless the government really accelerates spending, there will be no improvement in the economy. We h... FAUZI ICHSAN If the Chinese will not learn the true principles of government, all else will be useless. Knowledge... ZHANG ZHIDONG Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal. ARTHUR CLARKE Human judges can show mercy. But against the laws of nature, there is no appeal. ARTHUR C. CLARKE Before I die, I want to be somebody’s favorite hiding place, the place they can put everything the... ANDREA GIBSON We never pray against our government or call down curses on them. Instead, we have learned that God ... BROTHER YUN Great persons are not hard to recognize. He or she will be always trying to develop the plan that ca... PALITHA ARIYARATHNA How idle then is the notion that some entertain, that the establishment of this plan of government w... THOMAS COGSWELL UPHAM It is in the very nature of things human that every act that has once made its appearance and has be... HANNAH ARENDT we'll look at every department in this government in terms of efficiency, and there will be changes.... JACK JOHNSON There will always be cheaters. It is human nature. It will never be 100 percent clean, in any sport. DAVID MILLAR I'm not surprised at this result, I'm saddened, not surprised. This government will do anything to k... GANI FAWEHINMI If the British government is prepared to say that the Unionists will not have a veto over British go... MARTIN MCGUINNESS It is only when there is the supervision and critical oversight from the people that the government ... WEN JIABAO The government will be marshaling its efforts in the coming weeks to bolster its case against Lay, b... CHRISTOPHER BEBEL Our authorities leave us no doubt that the trust lodged with the oligarchy was sometimes abused, but... HENRY JAMES SUMNER MAINE If you have a Tory government at Westminster that takes us out of Europe against our will, there may... NICOLA STURGEON
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