When once a man has made celebrity necessary to his happiness, he has put it in the power of the weakest and most timorous malignity, if not to take away his satisfaction, at least to withhold it. His enemies may indulge their pride by airy negligence and gratify their malice by quiet neutrality.
Samuel Johnson
Related To let friendship die away by negligence and silence is certainly not wise. It is voluntarily to thr... EDWARD M. HALLOWELL At first, man was enslaved by the gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings... AYN RAND The time comes when each of us has to give up as illusions the expectations which, in his youth, he ... SIGMUND FREUD God will not have his work made manifest by cowards. A man is relieved and gay when he has put his h... RALPH WALDO EMERSON God may allow His servant to succeed when He has disciplined him to a point where he does not need t... A. W. TOZER The time comes when each one of us has to give up as illusions the expectations which, in his youth,... SIGMUND FREUD A man must know his destiny
if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, tw... GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, t... GEORGE S. PATTON JR. A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, t... GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON The man the state has put in place must have obedient hearing to his least command when it is right,... SOPHOCLES Gentlemen of the jury: The best friend a man has in this world may turn against him and become his e... GEORGE GRAHAM VEST If a man consults whether he is to fight, when he has the power in his own hands, it is certain that... HORATIO NELSON Our enemies are our evil deeds and their memories, our pride, our selfishness, our malice, our passi... GEORGE A. SMITH The paradoxical and tragic situation of man is that his conscience is weakest when he needs it most ERICH FROMM For it pleased God, after he had made all things by the word of his power, to create man after his o... GEORGE WHITEFIELD Every other enjoyment malice may destroy; every other panegyric envy may withhold; but no human powe... SAMUEL JOHNSON The Landlord is a gentleman who does not earn his wealth. He has a host of agents and clerks that re... DAVID LLOYD GEORGE Feast of Lucy, Martyr at Syracuse, 304 Commemoration of Samuel Johnson, Writer, Moralist, 1784 A ... SAMUEL JOHNSON Whatever man may stand, whatever he may do, to whatever he may apply his hand - in agriculture, in c... ABRAHAM KUYPER Man takes root at his feet, and at best, he is no more than a potted plant in his house or carriage ... JOHN BURROUGHS A man who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another has by his words. PHILLIPS BROOKS A man who lives right, and is right, has more power in his silence than another has by his words. PHILLIP BROOKS A man does not have to show pride in his children by endless talk;
One can see it in his face as he ... STEVEN R. DIXON But if he is angry at the world for doing him harm, why does he take it out on his loving partner? C... SUSAN WEITZMAN Judge not a fellow man by the number of noses he has on his face, but by the number of faces he has ... CHIEF LONG SPEAR WHO HUNTS BEAVERS A President is best judged by the enemies he makes when he has really hit his stride. MAX LERNER When an artist leaves his work to amuse people, he loses his time and their respect. If people are t... WILLIAM MORRIS HUNT A man with a career can have no time to waste upon his wife and friends; he has to devote it wholly ... JOHN OLIVER HOBBES The greatest joy a man can know is to conquer his enemies and drive them before him. To ride their h... CONN IGGULDEN If a man remembers what is right at the sign of profit, is ready to lay down his life in the face ... CONFUCIUS It is ridiculous for any man to criticize the works of another if he has not distinguished himself b... JOSEPH ADDISON Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True ... MARK TWAIN When a man has done his best, has given his all, and in the process supplied the needs of his family... MACK R. DOUGLAS All the idols made by man, however terrifying they may be, are in point of fact subordinate to him, ... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR All the idols made by man, however terrifying they may be, are in point of fact subordinate to him, ... SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR It is not helpful to help a friend by putting coins in his pockets when he has got holes in his pock... ELIZABETH BOWEN It is not helpful to help a friend by putting coins in his pockets when he has got holes in his pock... DOUGLAS HURD I like to open for a band as it brings on sort of a challenge and it makes things more interesting. ... KELLY JONES Man is the religious animal. He is the only religious animal. He is the only animal that has the Tru... MARK TWAIN How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which int... ADAM SMITH Even though artists of all kinds claim to put their hearts and souls into their works, it will only ... CRISS JAMI One of the most gracious dispensations of God concerning His saints is their lovely unawareness of s... W.E. (WILLIAM EDWIN) SANGSTER But the man who dares to live his life with death before his eyes, the man who receives life back bi... ALBERT SCHWEITZER It is impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that mental lying has prod... THOMAS PAINE A man vows, and yet will not east away the means of breaking his vow. Is it that he distinctly means... GEORGE ELIOT He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his o... SAMUEL JOHNSON Man is a gregarious animal and much more so in his mind than in his body. A golden rule; judge men n... G. C. (GEORG CHRISTOPH) LICHTENBERG Valor consists in the power of self-recovery, so that a man cannot have his flank turned, cannot be ... RALPH WALDO EMERSON Whether it is good or evil,man has the power to bring it to pass,once he commits his thoughts into w... DAVID ATTA (A.K.A DAVIED ATTLARS & MR DAIN) [Responding to the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce's question whether he traced his descent ... THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY Every man owes a part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he is engaged. No ... THEODORE ROOSEVELT When a woman submits to a man, it's the most precious gift she can give. Herself. Unreservedly. The ... MAYA BANKS And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. BIBLE Man can live by bread alone when all his energies are devoted to attaining that bread, but once his ... MICHAEL MOORCOCK In 2003, he was hit by a subway in Prague and lost both of his legs. It made me realize that we take... BIANCA KAJLICH Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the stri... EDMUND BURKE Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the stri... EDMUND BURKE What does a man gain in marriage?
nothing
his peace he loses it to his wife
his temper he has to let... APURVA GAGLANI I not often like the begining of something it has it owns doubts, loses and failures. But the end is... DEYTH BANGER A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best RALPH WALDO EMERSON A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best. RALPH WALDO EMERSON For the weakest has but to try his strength to find it, and then he shall be strong. ROBIN HOBB When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly ... ORISON SWETT MARDEN When a man feels throbbing within him the power to do what he undertakes as well as it can possibly ... ORISON SWETT MARDEN The writer's only responsibility is to his art. He will be completely ruthless if he is a good one. ... WILLIAM FAULKNER Mahomet established a religion by putting his enemies to death; Jesus Christ by commanding his follo... BLAISE PASCAL An influential member of parliament has not only to pay much money to become such, and to give time ... WALTER BAGEHOT Since the social victim has been oppressed by society, he comes to feel that his individual life wil... SHELBY STEELE Since the social victim has been oppressed by society, he comes to feel that his
individual life wil... SHELBY STEELE A man has reached middle age when he is cautioned to slow down by his doctor instead of by the polic... UNKNOWN What was done today by Johnson is exactly the thing he said he was not going to do. He has shown his... DENNIS KOEHLER ... When he elevates terrorists over other people who may well deserve pardons much more, or having ... JEFF SESSIONS His contribution has been first-class, and he is unlucky not to have scored more. His presence and h... BILLY DAVIES It appears to me that almost any man may like the spider spin from his own inwards his own airy cita... JOHN KEATS Bill has stated many times Penn Hills has been good to him. He made most of his money in the communi... FRANK PECORA Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who... ALEXANDER SOLZEHNITSYN Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who... ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN He is struck by her overview of his situation. It is as if she has understood his life. He is taken ... HILARY MANTEL Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, ... LYSANDER SPOONER He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends. OSCAR WILDE I'm convinced that the man who has learned to meditate upon the Lord will be able to run on his feet... CHARLES STANLEY If a man withdraws his mind from the love of beauty, and applies it as sincerely to the love of the ... CONFUCIUS You differ from a great man in only one respect: the great man was once a very little man, but he de... WILHELM REICH Mike managed over 160 disasters during his tenure at FEMA, and his service in those disasters has be... MICHAEL CHERTOFF If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left... SAMUEL JOHNSON He who has conquered his internal enemies, to such an Arihant, I bow down to them. Learn to recogniz... DADA BHAGWAN I believe a man’s finest hour often comes when he is at his weakest. When he is broken, affronted ... JASON VERSEY A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. He should ... JAMES ALLEN A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out
to accomplish it. He should ... JAMES ALLEN Never judge a man by his umbrella. It may not be his. ANON. As a man has no right to kill one of his children if it is diseased or insane, so a man who has made... J.M. SYNGE [W]hat possible purpose does this lashing-out serve? Will activists be shamed into recovering their ... PAUL KRUGMAN They measure their esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is. But a cultivated ... RALPH WALDO EMERSON One has a right to judge a man by the effect he has over his friends. OSCAR WILDE Commemoration of Caroline Chisholm, Social Reformer, 1877 I can see no intellectual objection to ... DONALD O. SOPER Men nearly always follow the tracks made by others and proceed in their affairs by imitation, even t... NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the ... AYN RAND No one should be astonished if in the following discussion of completely new princedoms and of the p... NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI It was on the last night of His life, when His enemies were all around Him, that He spoke to His dis... STEPHEN NEILL As long as man has pride, he will appear unattractive and no one will be attracted to him. He may ha... DADA BHAGWAN
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