Samuel Johnson Quotes

ANKER (A'NKER) n.s.[ancker, Dut.] A liquid measure chiefly used at Amsterdam. It is the fourth part of the awm, and contains two stekans: each stekan consists of sixteen mengles; the mengle being equal

what reason did not dictate, reason cannot explain.

The greater, far the greater number of those who rave and rail, and inquire and accuse, neither suspect nor fear, nor care for the publick; but hope to force their way to riches, by virulence and invective, and are vehement and clamorous, only that they may be sooner hired to be silent.

Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win

I have always suspected that the reading is right, which requires many words to prove it wrong; and the emendation wrong, that cannot without so much labour appear to be right.

Goldsmith, however, was a man who whatever he wrote, did it better than any other man could do.

A cow is a very good animal in the field; but we turn her out of a garden.

The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it.

The first years of man must make provision for the last.

Great works are performed, not by strength, but by perseverance.

It is better to live rich than to die rich.

A transition from an author's book to his conversation, is too often like an entrance into a large city, after a distant prospect. Remotely, we see nothing but spires of temples and turrets of palaces, and imagine it the residence of splendour, grandeur and magnificence; but when we have passed the gates, we find it perplexed with narrow passages, disgraced with despicable cottages, embarrassed with obstructions, and clouded with smoke.

Almost every man wastes part of his life attempting to display qualities which he doesn't possess.

As we crossed the Firth of Forth, our curiosity was attracted by Inch Keith, a small island, which neither of my companions had ever visited, though, lying within their view, it had all their lives solicited their notice. Here, by climbing with some difficulty over shattered crags, we made the first experiment of unfrequented coasts. Inch Keith is nothing more than a rock covered with a thin layer of earth, not wholly bare of grass, and very fertile of thistles. A small herd of cows grazes annually upon it in the summer. It seems never to have afforded to man or beast a permanent habitation.

Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people.