Samuel Johnson
Exercise is labor without weariness.
Samuel JohnsonKindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.
Samuel JohnsonA wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.
Samuel JohnsonTreating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle.
Samuel JohnsonHe that will enjoy the brightness of sunshine, must quit the coolness of the shade.
Samuel JohnsonI never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.
Samuel JohnsonThere are, in every age, new errors to be rectified and new prejudices to be opposed.
Samuel JohnsonDo not accustom yourself to use big words for little matters.
Samuel JohnsonMen are generally idle, and ready to satisfy themselves, and intimidate the industry of others, by calling that impossible which is only difficult.
Samuel JohnsonDon't think of retiring from the world until the world will be sorry that you retire. I hate a fellow whom pride or cowardice or laziness drives into a corner, and who does nothing when he is there but sit and growl. Let him come out as I do, and bark.
Samuel JohnsonAs I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.
Samuel JohnsonOne And Twenty
LONG-EXPECTED one and twenty
Ling'ring year at last has flown,
Pomp and pleasure, pride and plenty
Great Sir John, are all your own.
Loosen'd from the minor's tether,
Free to mortgage or to sell,
Wild as wind, and light as feather
Bid the slaves of thrift farewell.
Call the Bettys, Kates, and Jenneys
Ev'ry name that laughs at care,
Lavish of your Grandsire's guineas,
Show the spirit of an heir.
All that prey on vice and folly
Joy to see their quarry fly,
Here the gamester light and jolly
There the lender grave and sly.
Wealth, Sir John, was made to wander,
Let it wander as it will;
See the jocky, see the pander,
Bid them come, and take their fill.
When the bonny blade carouses,
Pockets full, and spirits high,
What are acres? What are houses?
Only dirt, or wet or dry.
If the Guardian or the Mother
Tell the woes of willful waste,
Scorn their counsel and their pother,
You can hang or drown at last.
He is a benefactor of mankind who contracts the great rules of life into short sentences, that may be easily impressed on the memory, and so recur habitually to the mind.
Samuel JohnsonYou find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
Samuel JohnsonMen have been wise in many different modes; but they have always laughed the same way.
Samuel JohnsonPatriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Samuel JohnsonSuch seems to be the disposition of man, that whatever makes a distinction produces rivalry.
Samuel JohnsonClassical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.
Samuel JohnsonI have found you an argument: but I am not obliged to find you an understanding.
Samuel JohnsonOats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
Samuel JohnsonGolf is a game in which you claim the privileges of age, and retain the playthings of childhood.
Samuel JohnsonYou must have taken great pains, sir; you could not naturally been so very stupid.
Samuel JohnsonGrief is a species of idleness.
Samuel JohnsonWhile grief is fresh, every attempt to divert only irritates. You must wait till it be digested, and then amusement will dissipate the remains of it.
Samuel JohnsonSome desire is necessary to keep life in motion, and he whose real wants are supplied must admit those of fancy.
Samuel Johnson
