Samuel Johnson Quotes

How gloomy would be these mansions of the dead to him who did not know that he shall never die; that what now acts shall continue its agency, and what now thinks shall think on for ever. Those that lie here stretched before us, the wise and the powerful of ancient times, warn us to remember the shortness of our present state; they were, perhaps, snatched away while they were busy, like us, in the choice of life.

If lawyers were to undertake no causes till they were sure they were just, a man might be precluded altogether from a trial of his claim, though, were it judicially examined, it might be found a very just claim.

God bless you, my dear!

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 do not know, sir, that the fellow is an infidel; but if he be an infidel, he is an infidel as a dog is an infidel; that is to say, he has never thought upon the subject.

It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world.

A second marriage is a triumph of hope over experience.

In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.

He was a very good hater.

Money and time are the heaviest burdens of life . . . the unhappiest of all mortals are those who have more of either than they know how to use.

To bring back riches from the East you must bring riches with you.

which has the power or quality of adding. The additory fiction gives to a great man a larger share of reputation than belongs to him, to enable him to serve some good end or purpose.Arbuthnot’sArt of political Lying.

Such is the common process of marriage. A youth and maiden meeting by chance, or brought together by artifice, exchange glances, reciprocate civilities, go home, and dream of one another. Having little to divert attention, or diversify thought, they find themselves uneasy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that they shall be happy together. They marry, and discover what nothing but voluntary blindness had before concealed; they wear out life in altercations, and charge nature with cruelty.

That he delights in the misery of others no man will confess, and yet what other motive can make a father cruel?

Shakspeare never has six lines together without a fault. Perhaps you may find seven: but this does not refute my general assertion.