Samuel Johnson quotes - page 12

He is not only dull himself, but the cause of dullness in others. (Samuel Johnson)
Those writers who lay on the watch for novelty, could have little hope of greatness; for great things cannot have escaped former observation. View quote
Samuel Johnson
PENSION - An allowance made to any one without an equivalent. In England it is generally understood to mean pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country. View quote
Samuel Johnson
Every man wishes to be wise, and they who cannot be wise are almost always cunning. View quote
Samuel Johnson
He was so generally civil that nobody thanked him for it. View quote
Samuel Johnson
Learn that the present hour alone is man's. View quote
Samuel Johnson
As the Spanish proverb says, He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him. So it is in travelling a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge. View quote
Samuel Johnson
Its proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence. View quote
Samuel Johnson
A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not an Englishman is content to say nothing, when he has nothing to say. View quote
Samuel Johnson
Johnson observed that he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney. View quote
Samuel Johnson
When learning's triumph o'er her barb'rous foes First reared the stage, immortal Shakespeare rose; Each change of many-colored life he drew, Exhausted worlds, and then imagined new: Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign, And panting Time toiled after him in vain. (Samuel Johnson)
I [Boswell] happened to say, it would be terrible if he should not find a speedy opportunity of returning to London, and be confined in so dull a place. JOHNSON: "Don't, Sir, accustom yourself to use big words for little matters. It would not be terrible, though I were to be detained some time here." View quote
Samuel Johnson
Here's to the next insurrection of the negroes in the West Indies. View quote
Samuel Johnson
I remember a passage in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield," which he was afterwards fool enough to expunge: "I do not love a man who is zealous for nothing."... There was another fine passage too which he struck out: "When I was a young man, being anxious to distinguish myself, I was perpetually starting new propositions. But I soon gave this over; for I found that generally what was new was false." View quote
Samuel Johnson
But, scarce observ'd, the knowing and the bold Fall in the gen'ral massacre of gold. View quote
Samuel Johnson
A lady once asked him how he came to define 'pastern', the knee of a horse: instead of making an elaborate defence, as might be expected, he at once answered, "Ignorance, Madam, pure ignorance." View quote
Samuel Johnson
As with my hat upon my head I walk'd along the Strand, I there did meet another man With his hat in his hand. View quote
Samuel Johnson
Ah! let not Censure term our fate our choice, The stage but echoes back the public's voice; The drama's laws the drama's patrons give, For we that live to please must please to live. View quote
Samuel Johnson
You see they'd have fitted him to a T. View quote
Samuel Johnson
People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed. View quote
Samuel Johnson
Those who do not feel pain seldom think that it is felt. (Samuel Johnson)
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. View quote
Samuel Johnson
A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it. View quote
Samuel Johnson
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. View quote
Samuel Johnson
No weakness of the human mind has more frequently incurred animadversion, than the negligence with which men overlook their own faults, however flagrant, and the easiness with which they pardon them, however frequently repeated. View quote
Samuel Johnson