Samuel Johnson Quotes

He that would pass the latter part of life with honour and decency, must, when he is young, consider that he shall one day be old; and remember, when he is old, that he has once been young.

I live in the crowd of jollity, not so much to enjoy company as to shun myself.

Let us take a patriot, where we can meet him; and, that we may not flatter ourselves by false appearances, distinguish those marks which are certain, from those which may deceive; for a man may have the external appearance of a patriot, without the constituent qualities; as false coins have often lustre, though they want weight.

A man may be so much of everything that he is nothing of anything.

A very unclubable man.

It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm.

The act of writing itself distracts the thoughts, and what is read twice is commonly better remembered than what is transcribed.

Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought. Our brightest blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks. The flowers which scatter their odours from time to time in the paths of life, grow up without culture from seeds scattered by chance. Nothing is more hopeless than a scheme of merriment.

"Happiness," said he, "must be something solid and permanent, without fear and without uncertainty."

Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking.

Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirrour of manners and of life. His characters are not modified by the customs of particular places, unpractised by the rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon small numbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions or temporary opinions: they are the genuine progeny of common humanity, such as the world will always supply, and observation will always find. His persons act and speak by the influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of other poets a character is too often an individual; in those of Shakespeare it is commonly a species.

Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanicks laughs at strength.

The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.

The pleasures of sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and the mind can only repose on the stability of truth.

Where then shall Hope and Fear their objects find?
Must dull Suspense corrupt the stagnant Mind?
Must helpless Man, in ignorance sedate,
Roll darkling down the Torrent of his Fate?
Must no Dislike alarm, no Wishes rise,
Nor Cries invoke the Mercies of the Skies?
Enquirer, cease, Petitions yet remain
Which Heaven may hear, nor deem Religion vain.
Still raise for Good the supplicating Voice,
But leave to Heaven the Measure and the Choice.