Samuel Johnson

No man is much regarded by the rest of the world. He that considers how little he dwells upon the condition of others, will learn how little the attention of others is attracted by himself. While we see multitudes passing before us, of whom perhaps not one appears to deserve our notice or excites our sympathy, we should remember, that we likewise are lost in the same throng, that the eye which happens to glance upon us is turned in a moment on him that follows us, and that the utmost which we can reasonably hope or fear is to fill a vacant hour with prattle, and be forgotten.

Worth seeing? Yes; but not worth going to see.

Every quotation contributes something to the stability or enlargement of the language.

He is no wise man who will quit a certainty for an uncertainty.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

The true art of memory is the art of attention.

We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake . . . by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep. I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor.

Where women love each other, men learn to smother their mutual dislike.

I trust no one, not even myself.

To be in time is to be asleep: to be awake is to be in eternity.

Their learning is like bread in a besieged town: every man gets a little, but no man gets a full meal.

There are thousands hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.

Be ever on your guard what you say of anybody and to whom.

Adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.

It is all that the young can do for the old, to shock them and keep them up to date.

Let the stoics say what they please, we do not eat for the good of living, but because the meat is savory and the appetite is keen.

Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.

A cynic can chill and dishearten with a single word.

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

I have learned throughout my life as a composer chiefly through my mistakes and pursuits of false assumptions, not by my exposure to founts of wisdom and knowledge.

The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that ain’t so.