Samuel Johnson Quotes about Giving

Wine gives great pleasure; and every pleasure is of itself a good. It is a good, unless counterbalanced by evil.

Wine gives great pleasure; and every pleasure is of itself a good. It is a good, unless counterbalanced by evil.

Samuel Johnson

Wine, Evil, Giving

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1866). “The Life of Samuel Johnson”, p.220

Agriculture not only gives riches to a nation, but the only riches she can call her own.

Samuel Johnson

Agriculture, Giving, Riches

Nature never gives everything at once.

Samuel Johnson

Giving

Samuel Johnson (1811). “A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland ... First American edition”, p.36

Wine gives great pleasure, and every pleasure is of itself a good. and A man should cultivate his mind so as to have that confidence and readiness without wine, which wine gives.

Samuel Johnson

Wine, Men, Giving

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1866). “The Life of Samuel Johnson”, p.220

The hour of reformation is always delayed; every delay gives vice another opportunity of fortifying itself by habit.

Samuel Johnson

Opportunity, Giving, Vices

Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.16

I would not give half a guinea to live under one form of government rather than another. It is of no moment to the happiness of an individual.

Samuel Johnson

Happiness, Government, Giving

Quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791) (entry for 31 Mar. 1772)

Plenty is the original cause of many of our needs; and even the poverty, which is so frequent and distressful in civilized nations, proceeds often from that change of manners which opulence has produced. Nature makes us poor only when we want necessaries; but custom gives the name of poverty to the want of superfluities.

Samuel Johnson

Names, Giving, Needs

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

Advice, as it always gives a temporary appearance of superiority, can never be very grateful, even when it is most necessary or most judicious; but, for the same reason, every one is eager to instruct his neighbors.

Samuel Johnson

Grateful, Giving, Advice

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1857). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius”, p.139

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

Attention and respect give pleasure, however late, or however useless. But they are not useless, when they are late, it is reasonable to rejoice, as the day declines, to find that it has been spent with the approbation of mankind.

Samuel Johnson

Respect, Giving, Attention

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

Treating your adversary with respect is giving him an advantage to which he is not entitled.

Samuel Johnson

Respect, Giving, Advantage

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1786). “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.32

We are easily shocked by crimes which appear at once in their full magnitude, but the gradual growth of our own wickedness, endeared by interest, and palliated by all the artifices of self-deceit, gives us time to form distinctions in our own favor

Samuel Johnson

Self, Giving, Growth

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy, Francis Pearson Walesby (1825). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL.D..: The Rambler”, p.37

Guilt has always its horrors and solicitudes; and, to make it yet more shameful and detestable, it is doomed often to stand in awe of those to whom nothing could give influence or weight but their power of betraying.

Samuel Johnson

Giving, Guilt, Weight

Samuel Johnson (1827). “The Rambler”, p.90

You cannot give me an instance of any man who is permitted to lay out his own time contriving not to have tedious hours.

Samuel Johnson

Men, Giving, Hours

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.176

Every human being whose mind is not debauched, will be willing to give all that he has to get knowledge.

Samuel Johnson

Knowledge, Giving, Mind

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.530

I have already enjoyed too much; give me something to desire.

Samuel Johnson

Giving, Desire, Too Much

Samuel Johnson (1977). “Selected Poetry and Prose”, p.78, Univ of California Press

You are much surer that you are doing good when you pay money to those who work, as the recompense of their labor, than when you give money merely in charity.

Samuel Johnson

Giving, Charity, Pay

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1866). “The Life of Samuel Johnson”, p.33

Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling, and see which will respect you most.

Samuel Johnson

Respect, Men, Giving

Samuel Johnson, James Boswell (1825). “The Table Talk of Dr. Johnson: Comprising Opinions and Anecdotes of Life and Literature, Men, Manners, and Morals”, p.119

No, Sir, you will have much more influence by giving or lending money where it is wanted, than by hospitality.

Samuel Johnson

Giving, Hospitality, Influence

James Boswell, Samuel Johnson (1859). “The Life of Samuel Johnson”, p.153

Being reproached for giving to an unworthy person, Aristotle said, I did not give it to the man, but to humanity.

Samuel Johnson

Men, Giving, Humanity

Men seldom give pleasure when they are not pleased themselves.

Samuel Johnson

Men, Giving, Pleasure

Samuel Johnson (1840). “The Life and Writings of Samuel Johnson...”, p.308

To purchase Heaven has gold the power? Can gold remove the mortal hour? In life can love be bought with gold? Are friendship's pleasures to be sold? No--all that's worth a wish--a thought, Fair virtue gives unbribed, unbought. Cease then on trash thy hopes to bind, Let nobler views engage thy mind.

Samuel Johnson

Love Is, Views, Giving

Samuel Johnson, Arthur Murphy (1837). “The Works of Samuel Johnson, LL. D.: With an Essay on His Life and Genius /c by Arthur Murphy, Esq”, p.554

A lawyer has no business with the justice or injustice of the cause which he undertakes, unless his client asks his opinion, and then he is bound to give it honestly. The justice or injustice of the cause is to be decided by the judge.

Samuel Johnson

Giving, Justice, Judging

Quoted in James Boswell, The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785) (entry for 15 Aug. 1773)

Nature makes us poor only when we want necessaries, but custom gives the name of poverty to the want of superfluities.

Samuel Johnson

Names, Giving, Civilized Nations

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

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.

Samuel Johnson

Giving, Desire, Haste

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

Samuel Johnson Quotes about Giving

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