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Samuel Johnson Quotes - Page 38

All Quotes Abstinence Abuse Accidents Achievement Adventure Advertising Affection Age Aging Alcohol Ambition Anxiety Appearance Appreciation Army Arrogance Art Atheism Attitude Authority Being Yourself Belief Benevolence Bitterness Blindness Bravery Business Change Character Charity Childhood Children Choices Church Civility Communication Community Compassion Confidence Consciousness Cooking Corruption Country Courage Crime Criticism Culture Curiosity Darkness Death Deception Defeat Design Desire Determination Devil Difficulty Dignity Disappointment Doubt Drinking Duty Dying Education Effort Elegance Energy English Language Envy Equality Evidence Evil Excellence Exercise Expectations Failing Failure Fame Fashion Fate Fear Feelings Flattery Flight Focus Food Freedom Friends Friendship Funny Future Genius Giving Glory Gold Goodness Grace Gratitude Greatness Grief Grieving Guilt Happiness Hate Hatred Health Heart Heaven History Home Honesty Honor Hope House Humanity Hunger Hurt Husband Hypocrisy Ignorance Imagination Imitation Imperfection Injury Innocence Inspirational Integrity Intelligence Journey Joy Judgement Judging Judgment Justice Kindness Knowledge Labor Language Laughter Laziness Learning Liberty Life Life And Death Life And Love Literature Losing Loss Love Lying Mankind Manners Marriage Meditation Memories Miscarriage Modesty Money Morality Morning Motivational Nature Office Opportunity Originality Overcoming Pain Passion Past Patience Peace Perfection Perseverance Philosophy Pleasure Poetry Politics Positive Positive Thinking Poverty Power Praise Prejudice Preparation Pride Privacy Progress Property Prosperity Prudence Purpose Quality Reading Reality Reflection Regret Rejection Religion Repentance Reputation Resentment Respect Retirement Revenge Revolution Sacrifice Safety Sailing School Science Security Self Esteem Self Love Shame Silence Sin Sleep Sloth Society Solitude Sorrow Soul Spring Struggle Study Stupidity Style Success Suffering Sunshine Talent Teaching Temptation Theatre Time Tragedy Travel Trust Truth Tyranny Uncertainty Understanding Values Violence Virtue Waiting Wall War Water Weakness Wealth Whiskey Wife Wine Winter Wisdom Wit Work Worry Writing Youth

Youth enters the world with very happy prejudices in her own favour.

Youth enters the world with very happy prejudices in her own favour.

Prejudice, World, Favour

Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.119

To proportion the eagerness of contest to its importance seems too hard a task for human wisdom. The pride of wit has kept ages busy in the discussion of useless questions, and the pride of power has destroyed armies, to gain or to keep unprofitable possessions.

Army, Pride, Age

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.412

Quack: A boastful pretender to arts which he does not understand. A vain boastful pretender to physick; An artful, tricking practitioner in physick.

Art, Doe, Vain

Samuel Johnson (1839). “Dictionary of the English Language ...”

A man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company

Men, Jail, Sailing

In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 1, p. 348 (16 March 1759).

Among other pleasing errors of young minds is the opinion of their own importance. He that has not yet remarked, how little attention his contemporaries can spare from themselves, conceives all eyes turned upon himself, and imagines everyone that approaches him to be an enemy or a follower, an admirer or a spy.

Eye, Errors, Mind

Samuel Johnson (1968). “Essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler”, p.20, Yale University Press

Ease, a neutral state between pain and pleasure ... if it is not rising into pleasure will be falling towards pain.

Pain, Fall, Rising

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, Francis Pearson Walesby (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D..: The Rambler”, p.399

Excise: A hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid.

Judging, Hateful, Common

A Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

Expectation improperly indulged in must end in disappointment.

Disappointment, Expectations, Ends

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1799). “Boswell's Life of Johnson: Including Boswell's Journal of a Tour of the Hebrides, and Johnson's Diary of A Journey Into North Wales”, p.426

Friendship may well deserve the sacrifice of pleasure, though not of conscience.

Sacrifice, May, Pleasure

Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.58

I would injure no man, and should provoke no resentment. I would relieve every distress, and should enjoy the benedictions of gratitude. I would choose my friends among the wise and my wife among the virtuous, and therefore should be in no danger from treachery or unkindness. My children should by my care be learned and pious, and would repay to my age what their childhood had received.

Wise, Gratitude, Children

Samuel Johnson, Abraham Raimbach, Robert Smirke (1819). “Rasselas”, p.48

If useless thoughts could be expelled from the mind, all the valuable parts of our knowledge would more frequently recur.

Mind, Useless, Valuable

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

It is strange that there should be so little reading in the world, and so much writing. People in general do not willingly read, if they can have any thing else to amuse them.

Reading, Writing, People

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 1 May 1783)

It may be observed in general that the future is purchased by the present. It is not possible to secure distant or permanent happiness but by the forbearance of some immediate gratification. This is so evidently true with regard to the whole of our existence that all precepts of theology have no other tendency than to enforce a life of faith; a life regulated not by our senses but by our belief; a life in which pleasures are to be refused for fear of invisible punishments, and calamities sometimes to be sought, and always endured, in hope of rewards that shall be obtained in another state.

Punishment, May, Rewards

Samuel Johnson (1801). “Works: ¬The Rambler”, p.223

Many need no other provocation to enmity than that they find themselves excelled.

Needs, Enmity, Provocation

Samuel Johnson (1968). “Essays from the Rambler, Adventurer, and Idler”, p.20, Yale University Press

Merit rather enforces respect than attracts fondness.

Merit, Fondness

Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.227

Patron: One who countenances, supports or protects. Commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is repaid in flattery.

Support, Flattery, Patronage

"A Dictionary of the English Language". Book by Samuel Johnson, 1755.

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance.

Growing Up, Flower, Culture

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, Francis Pearson Walesby (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D..: The Adventurer and Idler”, p.321

So willing is every man to flatter himself, that the difference between approving laws, and obeying them, is frequently forgotten; he that acknowledges the obligations of morality and pleases his vanity with enforcing them to others, concludes himself zealous in the cause of virtue.

Men, Vanity, Law

Samuel Johnson (1809). “The Rambler”, p.114

The cure for the greatest part of human miseries is not radical, but palliative.

Misery, Cures, Radical

Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.175

The safe and general antidote against sorrow is employment.

Sorrow, Employment, Safe

Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.249

There is in this world no real delight (excepting those of sensuality), but exchange of ideas in conversation.

Real, Ideas, Delight

Samuel Johnson (1836). “Johnsoniana: Or, Supplement to Boswell: Being Anecdotes and Sayings of Dr. Johnson”, p.86

There is nothing so minute, or inconsiderable, that I would not rather know it than not.

Minutes, Knows

Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1807). “Dr. Johnson's table-talk: aphorisms [&c.] selected and arranged from mr. Boswell's life of Johnson”, p.76

Towering is the confidence of twenty-one.

Twenties, Twenty One

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1859). “The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides”, p.144

We suffer equal pain from the pertinacious adhesion of unwelcome images, as from the evanescence of those which are pleasing and useful.

Pain, Suffering, Evanescence

Samuel Johnson (2009). “Samuel Johnson: Selected Writings”, p.81, Harvard University Press

Whatever is proposed, it is much easier to find reasons for rejecting than embracing.

Reason, Easier, Rejecting

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1840). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.71

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