Samuel Johnson quotes

“Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test.”

— Samuel Johnson

“It is a most mortifying reflection for a man to consider what he has done, compared to what he might have done.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”

— Samuel Johnson

“The world is seldom what it seems; to man, who dimly sees, realities appear as dreams, and dreams realities.”

— Samuel Johnson

“There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.”

— Samuel Johnson

“It is better that some should be unhappy rather than that none should be happy, which would be the case in a general state of equality.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Between falsehood and useless truth there is little difference. As gold which he cannot spend will make no man rich, so knowledge which cannot apply will make no man wise.”

— Samuel Johnson

“If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.”

— Samuel Johnson

“The future is purchased by the present.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Treating your adversary with respect is striking soft in battle.”

— Samuel Johnson

“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”

— Samuel Johnson

“He who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else.”

— Samuel Johnson

“It generally happens that assurance keeps an even pace with ability.”

— Samuel Johnson

“The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it.”

— Samuel Johnson

“I will be conquered; I will not capitulate.”

— Samuel Johnson

“If pleasure was not followed by pain, who would forbear it?”

— Samuel Johnson

“Of all noises, I think music is the least disagreeable.”

— Samuel Johnson

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

— Samuel Johnson

“There is, indeed, nothing that so much seduces reason from vigilance, as the thought of passing life with an amiable woman.”

— Samuel Johnson

“You cannot spend money in luxury without doing good to the poor. Nay, you do more good to them by spending it in luxury, than by giving it; for by spending it in luxury, you make them exert industry, whereas by giving it, you keep them idle.”

— Samuel Johnson

“All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Life affords no higher pleasure than that of surmounting difficulties, passing from one step of success to another, forming new wishes and seeing them gratified.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Every man who attacks my belief, diminishes in some degree my confidence in it, and therefore makes me uneasy; and I am angry with him who makes me uneasy.”

— Samuel Johnson

“There are few things that we so unwillingly give up, even in advanced age, as the supposition that we still have the power of ingratiating ourselves with the fair sex.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Surely a long life must be somewhat tedious, since we are forced to call in so many trifling things to help rid us of our time, which will never return.”

— Samuel Johnson

“Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.”

— Samuel Johnson

“I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.”

— Samuel Johnson

“He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.”

— Samuel Johnson