Top 25 Quotes by Samuel Johnson of 1744 - Page 25

It is more reasonable to wish for reputation while it may be enjoyed, as Anacreon calls upon his companions to give him for present use the wine and garlands which they propose to bestow upon his tomb.

It is more reasonable to wish for reputation while it may be enjoyed, as Anacreon calls upon his companions to give him for present use the wine and garlands which they propose to bestow upon his tomb.

Samuel Johnson

Wine, Giving, Wish

Books are faithful repositories, which may be awhile neglected or forgotten; but when they are opened again, will again impart their instruction: memory, once interrupted, is not to be recalled. Written learning is a fixed luminary, which, after the cloud that had hidden it has passed away, is again bright in its proper station. Tradition is but a meteor, which, if once it falls, cannot be rekindled.

Samuel Johnson

Memories, Book, Fall

"The Works of Samuel Johnson: Journey to the Hebrides. Tales of the imagination. Prayers and sermons".

If the man who turnips cries, Cry not when his father dies, 'Tis proof that he had rather Have a turnip than his father.

Samuel Johnson

Father, Men, Tears

Burlesque of Lope de Vega's lines 'Si a quien los leones vence...', in Hester Lynch Piozzi 'Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson' (1786) p. 67

Sir, it is wrong to stir up law-suits; but when once it is certain that a law-suit is to go on, there is nothing wrong in a lawyer's endeavouring that he shall have the benefit, rather than another.

Samuel Johnson

Law, Goes On, Benefits

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1824). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., Comprehending an Account of His Studies, and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order: A Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published; the Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for Near Half a Century During which He Flourished”, p.408

There ambush here relentless ruffians lay, And here the fell attorney prowls for prey.

Samuel Johnson

Law, Ruffian, Relentless

Samuel Johnson (1810). “The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper: Including the Series Edited with Prefaces, Biographical and Critical”, p.571

To embarrass justice by multiplicity of laws, or to hazard it by confidence in judges, seem to be the opposite rocks on which all civil institutions have been wrecked, and between which legislative wisdom has never yet found an open passage.

Samuel Johnson

Rocks, Law, Opposites

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “Lives of the poets. Lives of eminent persons. Political tracts. Philological tracts. Miscellaneous tracts. Dedications. Opinions on questions of law. Reviews and criticisms. Journey to the Western islands of Scotland. Prayers and meditations”, p.363

Sir, what is poetry? Why, Sir, it is much easier to say what it is not. We all know what light is; but it is not easy to tell what it is.

Samuel Johnson

Light, Poetry, Easy

In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 3, p. 38 (12 April 1776)

Fly-fishing may be a very pleasant amusement; but angling or float fishing I can only compare to a stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other.

Samuel Johnson

Funny, Humor, Rivers

Attributed, in Hawker 'Instructions to Young Sportsmen' (1859) p. 197, though not found in Johnson's works. 'Notes and Queries' 11 December 1915

He left the name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral, or adorn a tale.

Samuel Johnson

Names, World, Moral

'The Vanity of Human Wishes' (1749) l. 219 (on Charles XII of Sweden)

To set the mind above the appetites is the end of abstinence, which one of the Fathers observes to be not a virtue, but the groundwork of virtue.

Samuel Johnson

Mind, Virtue, Abstinence

"The Idler: With Additional Essays".

If he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, sir, when he leaves our houses let us count our spoons.

Samuel Johnson

Thinking, House, Vices

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 14 July 1763)

Bias and impartiality is in the eye of the beholder.

Samuel Johnson

Eye, Perspective, Beholder

...a common observation, that few are mended by imprisonment, and that he, whose crimes have made confinement necessary, seldom makes any other use of his enlargement, than to do, with greater cunning, what he did before with less.

Samuel Johnson

Jail, Use, Enlargement

Samuel Johnson, John Hawkins (1787). “The Works: Together With His Life, And Notes On His Life Of The Poets”, p.6

A thousand years may elapse before there shall appear another man with a power of versification equal to that of Pope.

Samuel Johnson

Power, Men, Years

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1859). “The Life of Samuel Johnson”, p.38

It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.

Samuel Johnson

Weather, Two, Haste

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, Francis Pearson Walesby (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D..: The Adventurer and Idler”, p.182

Surely nothing is more reproachful to a being endowed with reason, than to resign its powers to the influence of the air, and live in dependence on the weather and the wind, for the only blessings which nature has put into our power, tranquillity and benevolence. To look up to the sky for the nutriment of our bodies, is the condition of nature; to call upon the sun for peace and gaiety, or deprecate the clouds lest sorrow should overwhelm us, is the cowardice of idleness, and the idolatry of folly.

Samuel Johnson

Blessing, Clouds, Air

Samuel Johnson, Peter Martin (2009). “Samuel Johnson: Selected Writings”, p.73, Harvard University Press

Sleep undisturbed within this peaceful shrine, Till angels wake thee with a note like thine.

Samuel Johnson

Sleep, Angel, Peaceful

"The reader's Johnson: a representative selection from his writings".

Few faults of style, whether real or imaginary, excite the malignity of a more numerous class of readers, than the use of hard words.

Samuel Johnson

Real, Vocabulary, Class

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1799). “Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides and Johnson's Diary of a Journey Into North Wales”, p.253

Difference of thoughts will produce difference of language. He that thinks with more extent than another, will want words of a larger meaning; he that thinks with more subtilty will seek for terms of more nice discrimination; and where is the wonder, since words are but the images of things, that he who never knew the original should not know the copies?

Samuel Johnson

Nice, Thinking, Vocabulary

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1825). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: with Murphy's essay”, p.589

In questions of law or of fact conscience is very often confounded with opinion. No man's conscience can tell him the rights of another man; they must be known by rational investigation or historical inquiry.

Samuel Johnson

Wisdom, Men, Rights

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1832). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius”, p.587

Luncheon: as much food as one's hand can hold.

Samuel Johnson

Hands, Lunch, Culinary

Samuel Johnson, E. L. McAdam, George Milne (1963). “Johnson's Dictionary: A Modern Selection”, p.240, Courier Corporation

Dogs have not the power of comparing. A dog will take a small piece of meat as readily as a large, when both are before him.

Samuel Johnson

Dog, Meat, Pieces

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., Comprehending an Account of His Studies, and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order: A Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published; the Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for Near Half a Century During which He Flourished”, p.81

This is my history; like all other histories, a narrative of misery.

Samuel Johnson

History, Narrative, Misery

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson, Edmond Malone (1824). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., Comprehending an Account of His Studies, and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order: A Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published; the Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for Near Half a Century During which He Flourished”, p.352

They that have grown old in a single state are generally found to be morose, fretful and captious; tenacious of their own practices and maxims; soon offended by contradiction or negligence; and impatient of any association but with those that will watch their nod, and submit themselves to unlimited authority.

Samuel Johnson

Practice, Watches, Association

Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Carter, Samuel Richardson, Catherine Talbot (1825). “The Rambler: A Periodical Paper, Published in 1750, 1751, 1752”, p.194

I do not see, Sir, that it is reasonable for a man to be angry at another, whom a woman has preferred to him; but angry he is, no doubt; and he is loath to be angry at himself.

Samuel Johnson

Science, Men, Doubt

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1824). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D., Comprehending an Account of His Studies, and Numerous Works, in Chronological Order: A Series of His Epistolary Correspondence and Conversations with Many Eminent Persons; and Various Original Pieces of His Composition, Never Before Published; the Whole Exhibiting a View of Literature and Literary Men in Great Britain, for Near Half a Century During which He Flourished”, p.351

Samuel Johnson Quotes - Page 25

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