Samuel Johnson Quotes And Sayings

Samuel Johnson, often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and is described by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as “arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history”.He is also the subject of perhaps the most famous biography in English literature, namely The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell.

Great Works Are Performed Not By Strength But By Perseverance.

Worth Seeing? Yes; But Not Worth Going To See.

Small Debts Are Like Small Shot; They Are Rattling On Every Side, And Can Scarcely Be Escaped Without A Wound: Great Debts Are Like Cannon; Of Loud Noise, But Little Danger.

Melancholy, Indeed, Should Be Diverted By Every Means But Drinking.

Promise, Large Promise, Is The Soul Of An Advertisement.

A Fly, Sir, May Sting A Stately Horse And Make Him Wince; But, One Is But An Insect, And The Other Is A Horse Still.

Poetry Is The Art Of Uniting Pleasure With Truth.

Being In A Ship Is Being In A Jail, With The Chance Of Being Drowned.

Curiosity Is One Of The Most Permanent And Certain Characteristics Of A Vigorous Intellect.

Books Like Friends, Should Be Few And Well-chosen.

So Many Objections May Be Made To Everything, That Nothing Can Overcome Them But The Necessity Of Doing Something.

Treating Your Adversary With Respect Is Striking Soft In Battle.

All Theory Is Against Freedom Of The Will; All Experience For It.

Exercise Is Labor Without Weariness.

The True Measure Of A Man Is How He Treats Someone Who Can Do Him Absolutely No Good.

Such Is The State Of Life, That None Are Happy But By The Anticipation Of Change: The Change Itself Is Nothing; When We Have Made It, The Next Wish Is To Change Again.

It Generally Happens That Assurance Keeps An Even Pace With Ability.

Power Is Not Sufficient Evidence Of Truth.

There Is, Indeed, Nothing That So Much Seduces Reason From Vigilance, As The Thought Of Passing Life With An Amiable Woman.

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.

Nothing Will Ever Be Attempted If All Possible Objections Must First Be Overcome.

The Usual Fortune Of Complaint Is To Excite Contempt More Than Pity.

What Is Written Without Effort Is In General Read Without Pleasure.

One Of The Disadvantages Of Wine Is That It Makes A Man Mistake Words For Thoughts.

Bounty Always Receives Part Of Its Value From The Manner In Which It Is Bestowed.

Without Frugality None Can Be Rich, And With It Very Few Would Be Poor.

No Man But A Blockhead Ever Wrote Except For Money.

Adversity Leads Us To Think Properly Of Our State, And So Is Most Beneficial To Us.

There Are Few Ways In Which A Man Can Be More Innocently Employed Than In Getting Money.

Of All Noises, I Think Music Is The Least Disagreeable.

Man Alone Is Born Crying, Lives Complaining, And Dies Disappointed.

There Are Goods So Opposed That We Cannot Seize Both, But, By Too Much Prudence, May Pass Between Them At Too Great A Distance To Reach Either.

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.

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.

Courage Is The Greatest Of All Virtues, Because If You Haven't Courage, You May Not Have An Opportunity To Use Any Of The Others.

You Can't Be In Politics Unless You Can Walk In A Room And Know In A Minute Who's For You And Who's Against You.

We Are Inclined To Believe Those Whom We Do Not Know Because They Have Never Deceived Us.

He Who Praises Everybody, Praises Nobody.

The Vanity Of Being Known To Be Trusted With A Secret Is Generally One Of The Chief Motives To Disclose It.

The Happiest Conversation Is That Of Which Nothing Is Distinctly Remembered, But A General Effect Of Pleasing Impression.

Adversity Has Ever Been Considered The State In Which A Man Most Easily Becomes Acquainted With Himself.

To Get A Name Can Happen But To Few; It Is One Of The Few Things That Cannot Be Brought. It Is The Free Gift Of Mankind, Which Must Be Deserved Before It Will Be Granted, And Is At Last Unwillingly Bestowed.

When Men Come To Like A Sea-life, They Are Not Fit To Live On Land.

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.

There Are Some Sluggish Men Who Are Improved By Drinking; As There Are Fruits That Are Not Good Until They Are Rotten.

Kindness Is In Our Power, Even When Fondness Is Not.

Books That You Carry To The Fire, And Hold Readily In Your Hand, Are Most Useful After All.

I Will Be Conquered; I Will Not Capitulate.

You Teach Your Daughters The Diameters Of The Planets And Wonder When You Are Done That They Do Not Delight In Your Company.

Life Is A Progress From Want To Want, Not From Enjoyment To Enjoyment.