Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in politics, and their whole conduct proceeds upon it.
Samuel Johnson
Related War is nothing more than the continuation of politics by other means. KARL VON CLAUSEWITZ I engage with local politics because it affects people I love. And I engage in national politics bec... SHANE CLAIBORNE Art has nothing to do with politics. It is the freest thing in the world. TATYANA TOLSTAYA The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men. REINHOLD NIEBUHR The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men REINHOLD NIEBUHR Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and y... MAHATMA GANDHI I do not believe in sex distinction in literature, law, politics, or trade - or that modesty and vir... BELVA LOCKWOOD We must remember that politics is more than a power game. The core of politics in my view is to serv... KJELL MAGNE BONDEVIK This is the right thing to do in his mind. It has nothing to do with politics and everything to do w... CRYSTAL CANNEY It is more important for Labour to raise the reputation of politics than for the Tories, who are onl... FRANK DOBSON You never enjoy the world aright, till the Sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed wi... THOMAS TRAHERNE Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics. RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN Conscience has no more to do with gallantry than it has with politics RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN There's nothing wrong in men of God going into politics. It will help them to do what is right. T. B. JOSHUA We are naive and moralistic women. We are human beings who find politics a blight upon the human con... KATE MILLETT Let me tell you, politics is much more difficult than war, ... In politics, there are so many more f... MASSOUD BARZANI Nothing could be more dangerous to the existence of this Republic than to introduce religion into po... ROBERT GREEN INGERSOLL I am firmly of the view we should keep the police out of politics in Britain, or we risk going the w... JONATHAN POWELL Rightly or wrongly, as a woman in politics, you're being judged for what you're wearing, and... BETSY HODGES This has nothing to do with public policy. It has everything to do with right-wing politics. RICK GARCIA It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to... GEORGE MACDONALD It is not in the nature of politics that the best men should be elected. The best men do not want to... GEORGE E. MACDONALD There are few things more amusing in the world of politics than watching moderate Republicans chargi... MARIO CUOMO I engage in the use of game theory. Game theory is a branch of mathematics, and that means, sorry, t... BRUCE BUENO DE MESQUITA Politics and the fate of mankind are shaped by men without ideals and without greatness. Men who hav... ALBERT CAMUS It had to do with ability and talent. It had nothing to do with politics. G. GORDON LIDDY This is ridiculous. It shows that GPs are having to engage far more in satisfying local bureaucracie... ANDREW LANSLEY It is all politics. It has nothing to do with the law. ISSAM GHAZZAWI Religion has been in and out of American politics for nearly our whole history. Right now the conser... DOUGLAS LAYCOCK Intelligence has nothing to do with politics. BILL MOYERS My decision to do this has nothing to do with politics. It has nothing to do with my profession. It ... AMERICAN CITIZEN One has to understand that equality ends up by infiltrating the world of politics as it does everywh... ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE If we are going to get the politics to catch up with the science we have got to engage the American ... JOSEPH LIEBERMAN My view of Sarah Palin is she is the most dynamic figure maybe in politics, even more in some ways t... RUDY GIULIANI In nothing do men more nearly approach the gods than in doing good to their fellow men. CICERO PRO LIGARIO Remain close to government and away from politics. It means deal more with the authorities. And less... WANG JIANLIN I went into politics on an emotional level and soon realised that emotion has nothing to do with pol... AMITABH BACHCHAN Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes ... GEORGE JEAN NATHAN Women think with their whole bodies and they see things as a whole more than men do. DOROTHY DAY I've noticed two things about men who get big salaries. They are almost invariably men who, in conve... JOHN HALLOCK War is regarded as nothing but the continuation of politics by other means. KARL VON CLAUSEWITZ If you are to reach masses of people in this world, you must do it by a sign language. Whether your ... JOHN JAY CHAPMAN Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber... PLATO Here we are the way politics ought to be in America; the politics of happiness, the politics of purp... HUBERT H. HUMPHREY Politics: "The conduct of public affairs for private advantage." AMBROSE BIERCE Of all sciences there is none, where first appearances are more deceitful than in politics. DAVID HUME This was, I thought, the language of shy men, men too much alone with their reading and their ideas ... ALICE MCDERMOTT It is a national trend, which is to engage in politics of personal destruction. It takes preference ... LARRY HUFFORD My father (Riles Johnson) was active in politics, and brought me into it when I was 8 years old, JACK JOHNSON The belief that politics can be scientific must inevitably produce tyrannies. Politics cannot be a s... W. H. AUDEN After all is said that can be said upon the liquor traffic, its influence is degrading upon the indi... BILLY SUNDAY Politics is a tough game. But would I change places with a trauma nurse in an emergency ward on a bu... MICHAEL IGNATIEFF Family politics are worse than world politics. That's all I can say. You don't get to choose... MICHAEL CIMINO Politics is there the way men and women are there, the way the Atlantic Ocean is there. Sometimes I&... KENNETH KOCH Politics is the conduct of public affairs for private advantage. AMBROSE BIERCE And yet wherever there exists the display of power there is politics, and in women's relations with ... SALLY KEMPTON How glorious, then, is the prospect, the reverse of all the past, which is now opening upon us, and ... JOSEPH PRIESTLEY If you live in the overlapping world of politics and media, as I am learning, anything less than ful... CAMPBELL BROWN Obviously, politics is probably more of a negative than a positive for Halliburton, which is unfortu... GARY RUSSELL Obviously, politics is probably more of a negative than a positive for Halliburton, which is unfortu... GARY RUSSELL The time of our production had absolutely nothing to do with politics or tactics. CHARLES RUFF Neither in the past was I associated with politics, nor today I have any association with politics a... BABA RAMDEV When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their wa... FRANK HERBERT The Democrats can engage in the most reprehensible, mean-spirited, vile, vicious verbal attacks know... RUSH LIMBAUGH Young people understand the world. They should be listened to on matters of politics and world organ... ZADIE SMITH Nothing existed outside ourselves and school. For us, the world of politics, social revolution, the ... RACHEL KLEIN The problem is politics is made a sport, almost as much a sport as football or baseball. When it com... CRISS JAMI In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a... BARACK OBAMA In politics nothing is contemptible. JEAN BAPTISTE COLBERT In politics, nothing is contemptible. BENJAMIN DISRAELI Nothing is irreparable in politics. JEAN ANOUILH In politics nothing is contemptible. BENJAMIN DISRAELI There is no gambling like politics. Nothing in which the power of circumstance is more evident. BENJAMIN DISRAELI Politics are for foreigners with their endless wrongs and paltry rights. Politics are a lousy way to... P. J. O'ROURKE It's back to local politics. The federal dimension of Europe is more in the background than in the 1... ERIC CHANEY Say that cricket has nothing to do with politics and you say that cricket has nothing to do with lif... JOHN ARLOTT This was the way I was brought up to think of politics, that politics was to do with ethics, it was ... AUNG SAN SUU KYI In politics, being ridiculous is more damaging than being extreme. ROY HATTERSLEY There are those who maintain that in this world women have no right to interfere in the affairs of s... BELLE BOYD I've always looked upon politics as a very boring thing. Politics never interested me as much as... PAT OLIPHANT I know more about wheat and olive trees than I do about politics. ARIEL SHARON 6 Ways To Give Your Mind A Break: 1. Stop stressing 2. Stop worrying 3. Give re... GERMANY KENT There is no more independence in politics than there is in jail. WILL ROGERS Government means politics, and interference by government carries with it always the implication of ... OWEN D. YOUNG My two interests are spirituality and politics. I would mesh them in some way; maybe try to figure o... SERJ TANKIAN Timing is everything in politics, and the timing is with us right now. ARMANDO NAVARRO It's philanthropy, but it's good politics, too. Mighty good politics. The poor are some of the most ... H.W. BRANDS Hollywood is in control of politics and has imported their action-filled movie scripts into the real... KIM DOTCOM Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than... BARUCH SPINOZA Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than... BARUCH (_BENEDICT DE) SPINOZA Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than... BARUCH SPINOZA There's nothing more frightening than a half-baked do-gooder who knows nothing of the world but take... EIJI YOSHIKAWA Politics is traditionally a male domain in Russia. Until now, women have only been accessories. Now,... ALEXEI NAVALNY Apparently God takes reception of Holy Communion seriously. Apparently some things are more sacred t... CARL OLSON During the Samuel Johnson days they had big men enjoying small talk; today we have small men enjoyin... FRED ALLEN During the Samuel Johnson days they had big men enjoying small talk; today we have small men enjoyin... FRED ALLEN Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there... AUDREY HEPBURN Police business is a hell of a problem. It’s a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest ty... RAYMOND CHANDLER It's called political economy because it is has nothing to do with either politics or economy STEPHEN LEACOCK The great Cham of literature. (Samuel Johnson) TOBIAS GEORGE SMOLLETT
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 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