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Samuel Johnson Quotes - Page 60

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

Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing.

Bravery has no place where it can avail nothing.

Courage, Bravery, Be Brave

Samuel Johnson (1836). “Johnsoniana; or supplement to Boswell; being Anecdotes and sayings of Dr. Johnson, etc”

High people, sir, are the best; take a hundred ladies of quality, you'll find them better wives, better mothers, more willing to sacrifice their own pleasures to their children, than a hundred other woman.

Mother, Children, Sacrifice

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1866). “The Life of Samuel Johnson”, p.239

It is necessary to the success of flattery, that it be accommodated to particular circumstances or characters, and enter the heart on that side where the passions are ready to receive it.

Passion, Heart, Character

Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.1

God Himself, sir, does not propose to judge a man until his life is over. Why should you and I?

Atheist, Inspiration, Men

Language is only the instrument of science, and words are but the signs of ideas.

Science, Ideas, Language

'A Dictionary of the English Language' (1755) preface.

Men who cannot deceive others are very often successful at deceiving themselves.

Successful, Men, Deception

Samuel Johnson (1793). “The Rambler”, p.73

Tomorrow is an old deceiver, and his cheat never grows stale.

Deception, Tomorrow, Cheat

Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (199?). “Wisdom of ages: quotations”

Those writers who lie on the watch for novelty can have little hope of greatness; for great things cannot have escaped former observation.

Lying, Greatness, Watches

Samuel Johnson (1804). “The beauties of Samuel Johnson: maxims and observations. To which are now added, biographical anecdotes of the doctor, his life [&c.].”, p.103

In traveling, a man must carry knowledge with him, if he would bring home knowledge.

Travel, Home, Men

In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 3, p. 302 (17 April 1778)

Let him that desires to see others happy, make haste to give while his gift can be enjoyed, and remember that every moment of delay takes away something from the value of his benefaction.

Giving, Desire, Haste

Samuel Johnson (1810). “The works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With An essay on his life and genius”, p.174

Pleasure that is obtained by unreasonable and unsuitable cost must always end in pain.

Pain, Cost, Pleasure

In bed we laugh, in bed we cry, and born in bed, in bed we die; the near approach a bed may show of human bliss to human woe.

Laughter, Laughing, Bed

Samuel Johnson (1810). “The Works of the English Poets, from Chaucer to Cowper: Including the Series Edited with Prefaces, Biographical and Critical”, p.610

He endearing elegance of female friendship.

Friendship, Female, Elegance

Samuel Johnson (1821). “The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets: With Critical Observations on Their Works”, p.50

Security will produce danger.

Danger, Produce, Security

Samuel Johnson (1788). “Letters to and from the Late Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: To which are Added Some Poems Never Before Printed”, p.139

Friendship is seldom lasting but between equals, or where the superiority on one side is reduced by some equivalent advantage on the other.

Sides, Advantage, Lasting

Samuel Johnson (1761). “The Rambler: In Four Volumes”, p.59

Suspicion is most often useless pain.

Pain, Useless, Suspicion

Labor, if it were not necessary for existence, would be indispensable for the happiness of man.

Happiness, Men, Would Be

There are occasions on which all apology is rudeness.

Apology, Rudeness, Occasions

"The Rambler".

Were it not for imagination a man would be as happy in the arms of a chambermaid as of a duchess.

Men, Imagination, Would Be

"The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides".

He who endeavors to please must appear pleased.

Endeavor, Please

We all live upon the hope of pleasing somebody, and the pleasure of pleasing ought to be greatest, and at last always will be greatest, when our endeavours are exerted in consequence of our duty.

Pleasure, Endeavor, Duty

"The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: Including a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides".

It is our first duty to serve society.

Society, Firsts, Duty

In James Boswell 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' (1791) vol. 2, p. 10 (February 1766)

It is very natural for young men to be vehement, acrimonious and severe. For as they seldom comprehend at once all the consequences of a position, or perceive the difficulties by which cooler and more experienced reasoners are restrained from confidence, they form their conclusions with great precipitance. Seeing nothing that can darken or embarrass the question, they expect to find their own opinion universally prevalent, and are inclined to impute uncertainty and hesitation to want of honesty, rather than of knowledge.

Honesty, Men, Want

Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.110

He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

Wise, Wisdom, Men

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, Alexander Chalmers (1810). “The idler”, p.229

No degree of knowledge attainable by man is able to set him above the want of hourly assistance.

Men, Want, Able

Samuel Johnson (1836). “Johnsoniana; or supplement to Boswell; being Anecdotes and sayings of Dr. Johnson, etc”, p.384

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