Samuel Johnson

Adversity has ever been considered the state in which a man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.

Praise, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity.

If a man does not make new acquaintances as he advances through life, he will soon find himself left alone. A man, sir, should keep his friendship in a constant repair.

The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees is the high road that leads him to England.

I had rather see the portrait of a dog that I know, than all the allegorical paintings they can show me in the world.

Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. He whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of a critic.

Like success, failure is many things to many people. With Positive Mental Attitude, failure is a learning experience, a rung on the ladder, a plateau at which to get your thoughts in order and prepare to try again.

A soiled baby, with a neglected nose, cannot be conscientiously regarded as a thing of beauty.

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.

Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be.

Nature… She pardons no mistakes. Her yea is yea, and her nay, nay.

Make a good use of the present.

No two men can be half an hour together but one shall acquire an evident superiority over the other.

The person is a poor judge who by an action can be disgraced more in failing than they can be honored in succeeding.

And deep in my heart. The answer, it was in me. And I made up my mind. To define my own destiny.

Virtue has never been as respectable as money.

City life is millions of people being lonesome together.

He took off his hat and shook it (having hurried home as though his own coronation were waiting), and moved now with the slow deliberation of lonely people who have time for every meager requirement of their lives.

A man’s wife has more power over him than the state has.

A banker is a fellow who lends his umbrella when the sun is shining and wants it back the minute it begins to rain.

Liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery.