Samuel Johnson

He who has provoked the shaft of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.

Life must be filled up, and the man who is not capable of intellectual pleasures must content himself with such as his senses can afford.

The world is like a grand staircase, some are going up and some are going down.

Of the blessings set before you make your choice, and be content.

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.

There are goods so opposed that we cannot seize both, but, by too much prudence, may pass between them at too great a distance to reach either.

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.

I’ll tell you why yes, because why people lie is, because when people stop lying you know they’ve stopped caring.

Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods.

We live by our imagination, our admirations, and our sentiments.

A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation — a proof of unwillingness to do much, even where there is a necessity of doing something.

You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.

To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labor tends, and of which every desire prompts the prosecution.

Let your character be kept up the very end, just as it began, and so be consistent.

Let us be thankful for the fools. But for them the rest of us could not succeed.

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.

Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.

A day for toil, an hour for sport, but for a friend is life too short.

The men who have furnished me with my greatest inspiration have not been men of wealth, but men of deeds.

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.

Shame arises from the fear of men, conscience from the fear of God.