Quotes by Samuel Johnson
The luster of diamonds is invigorated by the interposition of darker bodies; the lights of a picture are created by the shades; the highest pleasure which nature has indulged to sensitive perception is that of rest after fatigue.
In a man's letters you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast, whatever passes within him is shown undisguised in its natural process. Nothing is inverted, nothing distorted, you see systems in their elements, you discover actions in their motives.
He that pursues fame with just claims, trusts his happiness to the winds; but he that endeavors after it by false merit, has to fear, not only the violence of the storm, but the leaks of his vessel.
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.
I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigrees of nations.
Oats. A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.
Never, my dear Sir, do you take it into your head that I do not love you; you may settle yourself in full confidence both of my love and my esteem; I love you as a kind man, I value you as a worthy man, and hope in time to reverence you as a man of exemplary piety.
There is nothing, Sir, too little for so little a creature as man. It is by studying little things that we attain the great art of having as little misery and as much happiness as possible.
The traveler that resolutely follows a rough and winding path will sooner reach the end of his journey than he that is always changing his direction, and wastes the hour of daylight in looking for smoother ground and shorter passages.
Be not too hasty to trust or admire the teachers of morality they discourse like angels, but they live like men.
He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind than the strokes of the oar; and many fold in their passage; while they lie waiting for the gale.
There are few minds to which tyranny is not delightful.
The endearing elegance of female friendship.
A man is in general better pleased when he has a good dinner upon his table, than when his wife talks Greek.
No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into jail for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned.
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.
We talked of the education of children; and I asked him what he thought was best to teach them first. JOHNSON. "Sir, it is no matter what you ...
There can be no friendship without confidence, and no confidence without integrity.
Golf is a game in which you claim the privileges of age, and retain the playthings of childhood.
Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity.
